Langer leads Somerset to county triumph

Justin Langer will enter the Pura Cup season in a winning mood after leading Somerset through an immensely successful season in which they easily won the Division Two County Championship. It was an impressive turnaround for Somerset, who finished last in 2006 and will next year be promoted to Division One.

Langer and Cameron White were two of the stars for Somerset, although Marcus Trescothick's prolific season also played a significant part. Langer made 1231 first-class runs at 55.95, with a highest score of 315. White was arguably even better, tallying 1083 runs at 72.20 before he departed with several games remaining.

Somerset won ten of their 16 matches and finished with a second division record of 266 points, more than 50 points in front of the second-placed Nottinghamshire. David Hussey was an integral part of Nottinghamshire's success - they will be promoted alongside Somerset in 2008 - and finished in the top ten run-scorers for the season. Hussey was typically aggressive and lifted his output after a relatively uneventful 2006 - he still averaged 50.13 that year - and scored 1259 runs at 83.93 with a strike-rate of 85.

Simon Katich was also productive in Division Two with 1284 runs at 75.52 but his Derbyshire outfit could only manage a sixth place finish. His team-mate Travis Birt was solid if not spectacular with 884 runs at 38.43.

At Essex, Andy Bichel showed that at 37 he still has plenty to offer with both bat and ball. Bichel played only half the season and finished behind Danish Kaneria as the county's second top wicket-taker with 41 victims at 20.53. Equally impressive was his 482 runs at 60.25, including two centuries.

In Division One, Sussex scraped home to claim their second successive championship in a finale that was not decided until the last ball of the last match. Lancashire were in with a chance of stealing the title as they chased a county record 489 against Surrey at The Oval.

Stuart Law (79) and VVS Laxman (100) laid the foundations but Dominic Cork was bowled with 25 runs still required, sending the championship Sussex's way. Law, who turns 39 next month, was his county's top batsman this season with 1277 runs at 63.85.

Durham finished in second place thanks in part to a magnificent season from Michael Di Venuto. He followed his most prolific Pura Cup campaign with 1329 county runs at 66.45, although Ottis Gibson was arguably Durham's most important player. Gibson, 38, the former West Indies fast bowler, claimed 80 wickets at 20.75 in a season dominated by the veterans.

The standout batsman all year was clearly Mark Ramprakash, 38, who struck ten centuries in his 15 games for Surrey, finishing with 2026 runs at 101.30. Mushtaq Ahmed, 37, was the leading wicket-taker with 90, followed by Gibson and Andy Caddick, 38.

The leading wicket-taker amongst the Australian contingent was another veteran, Shane Warne, who collected 50 victims at 29.58 for Hampshire. Surrey's Matthew Nicholson also had a solid season with 44 wickets at 29.29.