Vaughan's brilliant batting illuminates golden season

Opener's performances provide highlights of impressive England campaigns while Surrey stand out on the vibrant domestic scene

On the back of fascinating and entertaining Test series against Sri Lanka and India, and after a wonderful one-day triangular competition, English cricket has had an excellent summer. Many feared interest in the sport would wane to worrying levels when competing against sporting events such as football's World Cup and the Commonwealth Games, but it did not. Cricket proved, thanks to the show put on by those international sides, that rather than just keep its head above water it can cause the odd wave itself.

Despite the saddest of starts to a season – with the game in shock following the untimely deaths of two of its brightest young stars, Surrey's Ben Hollioake and Umer Rashid of Sussex – enthusiasm increased as Nasser Hussain's England side began to perform.

Having batted poorly at Lord's in their first outing against Sri Lanka, England's batsmen never looked back. After following on that day they then amassed totals of 529 for 5, 545, 512 and 50 for 0 and secured a 2-0 series win against Sri Lanka. Not content with this they then piled on 487, 301 for 6 and 617 in their first two Tests against India.

Such domination only came to an end in August when India's sublime batsmen started to flex their muscles. In fact this was a summer that bowlers would rather forget. It was not just their physical strain of bowling which left them in need of constant attention from a physiotherapist, attempting to carry these statistics home would have tested one's back.

In seven Tests, a score of 500 was passed on eight occasions and only twice were sides bowled out for fewer than 250 runs. Twenty-two hundreds were scored, 12 of them by English batsmen, and Michael Vaughan was the chief accumulator. In a golden summer for the Yorkshire opener, Vaughan scored 900 runs. His tally included four centuries, two of which fell only a boundary short of 200.

Mark Butcher and Hussain scored two centuries apiece but it was India's Rahul Dravid who was Vaughan's only competitor for player of the summer. In three of the most technically correct innings you could wish to see Dravid outshone even the great Sachin Tendulkar, who at The Oval played his 100th Test.

Alec Stewart, at 39, defied father time and became England's most-capped Test cricketer. One-all was a fair result, but India would have left these shores the happier of the two teams following their extraordinary win chasing 325 in the NatWest series final.

The domestic game also flourished with the two-division format again providing interest through to the last week of the summer. Surrey, one felt, were always going to win something in memory of Ben Hollioake and the County Championship was a fitting tribute. Despite being affected by more Test call-ups than any other county they dominated from the first week and for the third time in four years confirmed their status as the best team in the country. Enormous credit for this success must go to Adam Hollioake. The way in which he has handled himself during such a difficult time deserves much praise.

In another season Ian Ward's 1,708 runs would have won him a Test place but he can take satisfaction that his contribution was as significant as anyone's at Surrey. He ended as the highest first-class runs scorer. Mark Ramprakash was also overlooked by England but had another excellent summer at the crease, scoring more than 2,000 runs.

Clearly it was not just in Test cricket that batsmen enjoyed themselves. In both divisions, 36 players scored more than 1,000 first-class runs, while only 21 bowlers broke 50 wickets. With 80, Derbyshire's Kevin Dean took more Championship wickets than anyone but the bowler of the season was Martin Saggers of Kent. He took over 100 wickets in all cricket.

Warwickshire, in Bob Woolmer's last season as coach, proved they are again a side to be reckoned with by finishing second in the Championship and winning the last ever Benson & Hedges Cup final. Joining them in the First Division of both competitions next season are Essex, who made great strides under the guidance of their highly respected coach, Graham Gooch.

The National League title travelled across the Severn but the biggest losers in 2002 were the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy winners, Yorkshire. If having a £7m debt was not problem enough, the 2001 champions also suffered the ignominy of being relegated. How they must regret sacking last year's captain, David Byas, during the close season. However, they are not the only side with much work to do this winter. Somerset had a miserable season, too, being relegated in both the four-day and one-day leagues.

With each county allowed two overseas players in 2003 there seems no reason why the county game should not proveas entertaining as this season. The introduction of a 20-over competition should liven things up but whether it produces the results that the England and Wales Cricket Board is hoping for remains to be seen.

2002 COUNTY SEASON ROLL OF HONOUR

FRIZZELL COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

First Division
Champions: Surrey
Runners-up: Warwickshire
Relegated: Hampshire, Somerset, Yorkshire

Second Division
Winners: Essex
Runners-up: Middlesex
Also promoted: Nottinghamshire

C&G TROPHY
Winners: Yorkshire. Runners-up: Somerset

NORWICH UNION LEAGUE
First Division
Winners: Glamorgan
Runners-up: Worcestershire
Relegated: Nottinghamshire, Durham, Somerset

Second Division
Winners: Gloucestershire
Runners-up: Surrey
Also promoted: Essex

BENSON & HEDGES CUP
Winners: Warwickshire. Runners-up: Essex