The 2008 English cricket season was the 109th in which the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

had been an official competition. Four regular tournaments were played: The

LV County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

( first-class),

Friends Provident Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. Lan ...

( 50 Over),

NatWest Pro40 League The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect large numbers of matches being played on days o ...

( 40 Over) and the

Twenty20 Cup The T20 Blast, currently named the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition for English and Welsh first-class counties. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (E ...

( T20). All four tournaments featured the eighteen classic county cricket teams, although the Friends Provident Trophy also featured sides from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. In the county championship,

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

won their first championship title by 8 points from

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

were the two sides to be relegated to Division Two, with Surrey failing to register a win for the first time since ''

1871 Events January–March * January 3 – Franco-Prussian War – Battle of Bapaume: Prussians win a strategic victory. * January 18 – Proclamation of the German Empire: The member states of the North German Confederation and the sout ...

''. It completed a miserable season for Surrey, who also finished bottom of their

division and failed to progress from the group stage of the

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

were the two sides promoted from Division Two. In the other competitions,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

won the Friend's Provident Trophy with a 5 wicket victory over Kent; Sussex claimed the Pro40 Division 1 title with a last ball six, leaving

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

runners up. Last year's champions Worcestershire had to beat Glamorgan in the play-off to retain their Division 1 status for next year, while

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

and

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

were relegated. Essex bounced back from relegation last season to win the Division 2 title and, with it, a place in the top division alongside runners-up

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. Middlesex won their first domestic title in 15 years in the Twenty20 Cup with a 3 run win over reigning champions Kent. New Zealand toured England to compete in a test series which England won 2-0 and South Africa toured England to compete in a test series which South Africa won 2-1.

Roll of honour

Test series * England v New Zealand: 3 Tests - England won 2–0. * England v South Africa: 4 Tests - South Africa won 2–1. ODI series * England v New Zealand: 5 ODI's - New Zealand won 3–1. * England v South Africa: 5 ODI's - England won 4–0. (One match abandoned due to rain) * England v Scotland: 1 ODI - Match abandoned because of rain. Twenty20 Internationals * England v New Zealand: 1 Twenty20 International - England won. * England v South Africa: 1 Twenty20 International - Match abandoned because of rain.

*Champions:

*Division Two winners:

*Winners:

- Runners-up:

Pro40 (National League) *Division One winners:

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

*Division Two winners:

*Winners:

- Runners-up:

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

*Winners:

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

- Runners-up:

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

MCCA Knockout Trophy The National Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the National Counties in English cricket. At first it was known as the ''English Industrial Estates Cup'', before being called the ...

*Winners:

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

- Runners-up:

Second XI Championship *Winners: Durham 2nd XI Second XI Trophy *Winners: Hampshire 2nd XI - Runners-up: Essex 2nd XI

Test Series

South African tour

New Zealand tour

LV County Championship

Divisions

Division One Standings

Division Two Standings

Friends Provident Trophy

Source
BBC Sport

Natwest Pro40

Source
BBC Sport
Worcestershire beat Glamorgan in the playoff match to retain their Division 1 status for the 2009 season.

Twenty20 Cup

Knockout stage

References

External links

from

Cricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

{{International cricket tours of England 2008 in cricket

Cricket season Cricket seasons are the times of the year when cricket is played. Because top-class cricket is almost always played outdoors, on uncovered pitches, and rain prevents play, the seasons in each country are geared to coincide with the driest months ...

2008