Can Anyone Stop Surrey's Four-peat Quest?

Read Time:8 Minute, 48 Second

Surrey will look to become the first side to win four County Championship titles in a row for 70 years when the domestic red-ball competition begins its 2025 season on Friday.

The last county to achieve such a feat? Surrey themselves during a run of seven successive titles between 1952 and 1958.

While England’s men have a busy Test summer on the horizon with first Zimbabwe and then India as tourists, the early-season focus will be firmly on who could put themselves in the frame for selection while also spearheading a bid for silverware come September.

Division One in 2025 features some counties back in the top tier for the first time in a number of seasons along with a batch of perennial challengers for the Lord’s Taverners Trophy.

Could a surprise challenger upset the balance of power from recent seasons? We take a look at how the campaign may unfold…

Contenders

It’s hard to look beyond Surrey doing it all over again in 2025.

While club legend Alec Stewart has moved on as director of cricket to take on a more part-time post as high performance cricket advisor, head coach Gareth Batty can still call upon a high-class squad capable of posting big totals and taking 20 wickets repeatedly.

Bowling-wise, many eyes will be on the now England-eligible Dan Worrall with the Australian-born seamer looking to add to the 139 Championship wickets he has amassed in the past three seasons by potentially capping it off with a Test side call-up.

With the bat, expect former England openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley to once again be in the runs and leading the way.

When available, Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith will lend middle-order support, while Dan Lawrence will want to put himself back into Test contention after a frustrating series as a makeshift opener against Sri Lanka last summer.

Pushing for the title will be Somerset, who were “the nearly men” once again last season despite a thrilling win over Surrey in the penultimate round.

When fit, Will Smeed will be available to feature in all formats with the bat having upgraded his white-ball only contract while New Zealand seamer Matt Henry will be their overseas spearhead for the first half of the season when he arrives in mid-April.

Add the twin-spin threat of Jack Leach and the emerging Archie Vaughan, who have proved prolific enough to force fellow England tweaker Shoaib Bashir out on loan to Glamorgan and the Cidermen should be well in the mix to finally secure their first ever title.

In terms of another potential challenger, Durham should shape up well with the opportunity to build in their second season back in the top division.

They have made some shrewd English-qualified signings under dynamic coach Ryan Campbell in opener Emilio Gay on a permanent deal from Northamptonshire, England Lions seamer Sam Conners from Derbyshire and all-rounder Will Rhodes from Warwickshire.

England seamers Matthew Potts and Brydon Carse will likely feature prominently alongside exciting left-arm quick James Minto, who still only 17, has already caught the eye with an entertaining debut against Surrey last season.

Neil Wagner has also signed on as an overseas bowler to add some invaluable early-season experience.

Pretenders

In the middle of the pack, expect there to be little to choose from between a group of four.

Warwickshire should do better than their 2024 return of only one win with an eye-catching selection of overseas signings set to arrive at Edgbaston through the season in New Zealand skipper Tom Latham, Australia all-rounder Beau Webster and Pakistan seamer Hassan Ali.

Jacob Bethell, Dan Mousley and Sam Hain will also be three potential England selection contenders to keep an eye on through the campaign.

Yorkshire are back in the top flight for the first time in three seasons and there has been plenty of change both on and off the pitch over the winter.

Jonny Bairstow has been named red-ball captain after Shan Masood’s move to Leicestershire while Anthony McGrath is back at his former county as first-team coach having helped Essex to a Championship title and runners-up finishes in his time in charge.

Despite losing Matthew Fisher’s services in the seam bowling department to Surrey, they should still possess enough potency to win more games than they draw or lose. Bairstow’s presence alongside Dawid Malan and Adam Lyth at the top of the batting order, with occasional cameos from Harry Brook and Joe Root, should deliver plenty of runs.

Strugglers

Some of the names in the bottom rung may come as a surprise, but underline just how close the division can be.

Hampshire’s runners-up finish last season will be tough to emulate without the experience of James Vince, not only as club captain, but also in terms of his weight of runs.

The former England international, 34, took the decision in January to quit red-ball cricket and move to Dubai following personal issues off the field and to increase his opportunities to play T20 franchise cricket.

Bowling-wise, there will be interest in seeing how a batch of up and coming seamers including Sonny Baker, who has joined from Somerset and been handed an England development contract over the winter, perform in the absence of Mohammad Abbas.

Slow left-armer Liam Dawson will no doubt be up the top end of the bowling averages as he continues to be Hampshire’s Mr Dependable while Mark Stoneman has joined from Middlesex to replace Vince in the batting department.

Nottinghamshire are a hard one to predict, but the addition of the aforementioned Abbas for six games between May and September, may see them perform better than expected.

If they can stay fit, tall seamers Olly Stone and Dillon Pennington, who have both either been handed Test caps or been on fringes of selection in recent years, will also add more potency.

Haseeb Hameed’s time as an England opener may have come and gone in the Bazball era, but he can still deliver prolific seasons in terms of runs. Joe Clarke is another who fits that criteria in the middle-order, but has yet to make a strong enough case with the consistent weight of runs to make him hard to ignore for Test selection.

Essex have been there or thereabouts in recent years, but this season may prove a much tougher one.

After a turbulent time off the field financially and administratively, there is an alarming lack of depth.

Simon Harmer looks like being the solitary overseas signing after India all-rounder Shardul Thakur’s move fell through when he was called up as a late injury replacement in the IPL.

Ex-England coach Chris Silverwood is back as director of cricket, replacing his former assistant McGrath, and will have fond memories of delivering the county’s first title for 25 years back in 2017.

But his seam bowling department will look stretched should either the prolific Sam Cook finally be rewarded with a Test call-up or new-ball partner Jamie Porter get injured.

They should have enough to stay up thanks to some experienced batters, but only just.

Sussex are back in Division One for the first time since 2015.

The charismatic Paul Farbrace has done a terrific job rebuilding a county that needed a hard reset in many departments. But will top-tier cricket prove too much of a challenge for a largely evergreen squad this soon?

Skipper John Simpson will be the experienced hand leading his troops while overseas signings Daniel Hughes from Australia and West Indies quick Jayden Seales will add spark.

If they can get Ollie Robinson on the park more often than not as the former England seamer recovers from hernia surgery, then things will look much brighter. Meanwhile, a certain Jofra Archer may also get the chance to steam in from the Sea End at Hove if his long road back to a Test return for England doesn’t run into any obstacles.

Finally, Worcestershire had a tremendous season in 2024 coming up and surviving comfortably to record their best finish since 1997, but this season may prove a testing one.

Chief executive Ashley Giles has plenty to contend with both on and off the field as the county’s future at New Road looks uncertain both from a financial and environmental perspective.

The retirement of club stalwart Joe Leach last season leaves them without a talisman with Brett D’Oliveira looking to fill that void as he continues as captain.

It may be a tough watch for Pears fans, who will hope an exciting batch of youngsters including seamers Ethan Brookes and Ben Allison plus top-order batters Adam Hose and Kashif Ali deliver match-winning contributions.