By Oliver Brett

BBC Sport assesses the efforts of the 18 county sides during the 2006 season and suggests some areas in which they could improve next year.

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP Champions: Sussex Relegated: Middlesex, Nottinghamshire Division Two winners: Surrey Also promoted: Worcestershire PRO 40 LEAGUE Champions: Essex Relegated: Durham, Middlesex, Glamorgan Division Two winners: Gloucestershire Others promoted: Worcestershire, Hampshire C&G TROPHY Winners: Sussex Runners-up: Lancashire TWENTY20 CUP Winners: Leicestershire Runners-up: Nottinghamshire

Derbyshire: By finishing mid-table rather than towards the bottom of Division Two in the County Championship, Derbyshire are getting better, though progress remains slow.

They will not be helped in 2007 by losing their leading bowler this season, Steffan Jones (who returns to Somerset), and the long-term mainstay of their batting, Michael Di Venuto.

Durham: Clung onto their Division One status in the Championship despite a bad run of injuries and supplying England with three pace bowlers - though Graham Onions never made an international appearance.

A bit of a mixed bag in one-day cricket, the highlight a near-appearance in the C&G Final - amid general suspicions that they never quite settled on an ideal side for either format of the game.

Essex: By adding the Pro40 title to its predecessor, the Totesport League, Essex have established themselves as the best team in the country at anything less than 50-overs-per-side and more than 20.

They also seemed destined for promotion in the Championship until the final day of the season, when Worcestershire conjured a fine win at Northampton. No Essex bowler took 40 wickets, and that's a problem.

Glamorgan: Last season, they lost 14 out of 16 matches in Division One of the Championship and they found Division Two no easier, with just two wins.

They were also knocked out of the top tier of the Pro40 league, and according to reports new captain David Hemp may have to contend without overseas players until 2009.

Gloucestershire: Any hopes of an immediate bounce back to Division One were confounded by a slow start to the season, and they never picked up any momentum.

But they did finish on top of Division Two in the Pro40 to remind people they can play one-day cricket. A squad shake-up is already under way with James Averis, Matt Windows and Phil Weston all leaving.

Hampshire: On the last day of the season, Hampshire won a play-off to earn promotion into Division One of the Pro40, but generally it's been a season of frustration for a club eager for silverware.

Importantly, though, the young batsmen in whom much has been invested - Jimmy Adams and Chris Benham - both came through with the goods this season, so 2007 promises much.

Kent: A season in which their captain Rob Key barely averaged in the 30s underlines a moderate year for the men from Canterbury, when they finished mid-table in every competition.

Next season could be interesting, though. Joe Denly is a bright prospect with the bat, and two international all-rounders in Andrew Hall and new signing Yasir Arafat have much to offer.

Lancashire: Hopes were high that the 56-year Championship drought could finally be ended. But Sussex, having already snatched the C&G Trophy from Lancashire's grasp, also condemned them to second place in the main competition.

At least the Red Rose county are challenging for top honours now, something they should have been doing for some time. A shrewd overseas signing will keep them competitive.

Leicestershire: A second Twenty20 Cup in three years, albeit after a controversial conclusion on finals night, kept the trophy cabinet-duster in occupation.

But there were not enough good bowling performances to sustain a promotion run in the Championship and next year they might see a lot less of Stuart Broad.

Middlesex: Their season went into freefall after they narrowly missed making the C&G Final and they ended up with just one win in the Championship to plummet into Division Two.

Their bowling has never really convinced in recent seasons, although Chris Silverwood strove manfully for 61 Championship wickets, and they need to strengthen their attack to give themselves a decent stab at promotion in 2007.

Northamptonshire: Lance Klusener and Chris Rogers proved terrific signings and whenever Monty Panesar was available, they were quite a handful.

But Panesar's appearances will become increasingly infrequent, and for all the signs of recovery they only managed three wins in Championship Division Two. New coach David Capel still has much to do.

Nottinghamshire: Director of cricket Mick Newell was furious when two tame defeats saw them crash back to Division Two one year after lifting the Championship trophy.

Amid the post-mortem, and inevitable complaints that too many of the squad are too old, Charlie Shreck has emerged as an exciting fast-bowling prospect.

Somerset: Take out Justin Langer's all-too-brief cameo in the middle of the season and a fine haul of runs from another Australian, Cameron White, and there was not much for Somerset to write home about.

But with seamer Steffan Jones returning to help out veteran Andy Caddick and Kolpakker Charl Willoughby, they may at least avoid the wooden spoon in Division Two in 2007.

Surrey: They are a much happier side with Alan Butcher, as coach, and Mark Ramprakash's hunger for runs took them to the Division Two title well before the end of the season.

They remain indifferent in one-day cricket, however. A semi-final appearance in the Twenty20 Cup was the height of their achievements.

Sussex: What more remains to be said? Mushtaq Ahmed ended the season with some stunning performances to ensure a second Championship pennant in four years for Chris Adams's men.

With a thrilling win in a low-scoring C&G Final at Lord's to boot, it really was a case of 'Good Old Sussex By The Sea'.

Warwickshire: The last season of Nick Knight's playing career and the first with Mark Greatbatch as coach was not a good one for the Bears.

They did OK in the Championship, but produced nothing in the one-day competitions and with some indifferent batting creeping in, they may struggle to replace Knight.

Worcestershire: The Black Pears' promotion ambitions were seemingly in tatters last Saturday morning before Gareth Batty and Ray Price triggered a Northants collapse and the batsmen achieved a tricky target.

Now they're up, they need to stay up. Another season of Zaheer Khan's excellent bowling will help them achieve that target, but India may want him in their touring Test squad.

Yorkshire: With only three Championship victories all season, Yorkshire could be considered a little bit lucky to avoid relegation.

On the other hand, they should take great credit for introducing two leg-spinners in Adil Rashid and Mark Lawson - and winning matches with them.