Nottinghamshire emulated Yorkshire’s unwanted feat of 2002 by being relegated the year after they won the Championship. Poor early season weather did not help but the key components of their 2005 success – effective swing bowlers and heavy runscoring in the top order – were missing. Openers Darren Bicknell and Jason Gallian mustered only one century stand, David Hussey and Stephen Fleming were inconsistent and Ryan Sidebottom found form only briefly – and late. Still, they could easily have stayed up. A truly abject performance against Sussex in the last match yielded a solitary point when one more would have meant safety. With hindsight the county should have freshened up an ageing squad in the winter after they won the title. Russell Warren, Anurag Singh and Greg Smith were all released after playing peripheral roles this year. There was more youthful vigour about the one-day cricket, an area that director of cricket, Mick Newell, had identified as needing attention. They almost won the Twenty20 Cup and the one-day league but those near-misses were scant consolation.

Paul Bolton The Wisden Cricketer