BBC Sport assesses the efforts of the 18 county sides during the 2005 seasons and suggests some areas in which they could improve next year.
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COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP
Champions: Nottinghamshire
Relegated: Surrey, Gloucs, Glamorgan
Division Two winners: Lancashire
Others promoted: Durham, Yorkshire
TOTESPORT LEAGUE
Champions: Essex
Relegated: Gloucs, Worcs, Hampshire
Division Two winners: Sussex
Others promoted: Durham, Warwicks
C&G TROPHY
Winners: Hampshire
Finalists: Warwicks
TWENTY20 CUP
Winners: Somerset
Finalists: Lancashire
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Derbyshire: After a miserable couple of years there are some signs of recovery. There was a quarter-final spot in the Twenty20 Cup and they only just missed out on Totesport League promotion.
They remain a very ineffective force in the Championship however, relying far too much on the runs of Michael di Venuto and the wickets of veteran Graeme Welch.
Durham: Promotion in both the County Championship and the Totesport League made Durham one of the success stories of the year.
After years of promoting local talent, the policy has finally borne fruit and with young pacemen Liam Plunkett and Mark Davies coming through, they must seek to consolidate their gains.
Essex: The surprise runaway winners of the Totesport League, with Ryan ten Doeschate smashing bowlers to all parts while Darren Gough and the three spinners took most of the wickets.
Injuries to leading bowlers, in particular Alex Tudor, wrecked their promotion hopes in the County Championship.
Glamorgan: Losing 14 out of 16 matches in the County Championship was a catastrophe and something that will take time to put behind them.
The bowling was below-par, despite the belated emergence of youngster Huw Waters, and only three batsmen averaged more than 34.
Gloucestershire: Another county with nothing to smile about, as they were relegated from both leagure competitions.
Their batting was even worse than Glamorgan's - Alex Gidman's 857 runs at 34.28 was the best individual performance in the Championship - and they have suddenly forgotten how to win in one-day cricket.
Hampshire: A great year almost turned into Hampshire's best-ever year when, after winning the C&G Trophy in convincing fashion, they were only just pipped by Nottinghamshire for the County Championship title.
There remain some areas for improvement, however. One or two of the young specialists need to step up a gear because they cannot always rely on the spinners, the all-rounders and the ever consistent John Crawley.
Kent: A lot of Kent players enjoyed good seasons in the County Championship, where they held their own despite losing Ed Smith and Alex Loudon last year.
South African all-rounders Andrew Hall and Justin Kemp gave the team flexibility but they did not do themselves justice in the the one-day competitions.
Lancashire: They were expected to bounce back from Division Two in the Championship and did just that, taking the title despite being slower out of their blocks than Durham.
There was no one-day silverware, however, despite their ability to field powerful line-ups at times - beaten in the Twenty20 final and losing semi-finalists in the C&G Trophy.
Leicestershire: The 2004 Twenty20 Cup winners reached the semi-finals this time - it remains the only competition that they are competitive in.
Elsewhere, there are too many areas of weakness and the average age of the side is too high. An influx of new faces may be needed to turn things around next summer.
Middlesex: The one thing this side never lack is runs - this year Owais Shah and Ed Joyce really filled their boots as the team stayed in Division One.
The bowling is less convincing. Alan Richardson took nearly all their wickets early in the season and they need quality back-up. Nantie Hayward missed 12 Championship matches and there was nobody to pick up the slack.
Northamptonshire: There is plenty of quality about the batting and Monty Panesar is clearly developing into a spin bowler with potential.
One or two high-class seam bowlers could convert the one-day potential that the club has into trophies - two quarter-finals and some good wins in Division One of the Totesport League are a good base to build on.
Nottinghamshire: Promotion in 2004 and the County Championship the following year - coach Mick Newell's reputation continues to grow.
Messrs Hussey, Fleming, Gallian and Bicknell compiled big runs; Ealham, Sidebottom, Harris and Smith took the wickets. A simple formula that paid dividends because those key men stayed fit - and there was also the highly significant signing of New Zealand captain Fleming.
Somerset: The romance of the Twenty20 Cup is that a team like Somerset, who have been in general malaise for some time, can win it.
That's what happened one heady night at The Oval, when Andy Caddick topped a series of fine performances. Unlike some counties, Somerset are pinning their hopes on talented youngsters rather than veteran foreigners - good luck to them.
Surrey: Coach Steve Rixon kept saying he was "very confident" Surrey would win the Championship but they kept losing, were relegated, and Rixon left his job.
In fairness, injuries played a major role, with skipper Mark Butcher missing much of the season, but there was no excuse for below-par batting and some thoroughly insipid performances in Totesport Division Two.
Sussex: A good year for the 2003 Champions saw them take third place this year and turn round some poor seasons in one-day cricket with 12 wins in the Totesport League to win promotion easily.
The mid-season arrival of Rana Naved-ul-Hasan gave them the third quality seam bowler they needed and he did superbly well. The squad is still limited in terms of numbers but there are not too many weak links.
Warwickshire: In the batting, they struggled at times to cover Ian Bell's England call-up and Mark Wagh's early season injury but gave some fine team bowling performances to collect fourth place in the Championship.
However, when they took on Hampshire in the final of the C&G Trophy those same bowlers disappeared to all parts as Sean Ervine's century proved decisive and it will be interesting to see how they progress next year with a new captain and coach.
Worcestershire: They would be disappointed at coming sixth in Division Two of the Championship and also had very little to write home about in one-day cricket.
With eight bowlers taking their wickets at less than 30 runs apiece in four-day cricket, the problems were in the batting, where only Ben Smith and Stephen Moore came up trumps.
Yorkshire: With Phil Jaques and Anthony McGrath scoring runs for fun throughout the season, Yorkshire went unbeaten in the Championship until the final match when Northamptonshire's spinners broke through. Five wins were enough to be promoted.
In one-dayers they had a mixed season - the highlight being a semi-final in the C&G Trophy when they were trounced by Hampshire. One of a number of counties lacking a quality strike bowler.
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