The season's opening first class game, the Champion County match at Lord's, began on 14 April[3] with a Marylebone Cricket Club team taking on Nottinghamshire.
[4] Nottinghamshire earned a lead of 23 on first innings after bowling MCC out for 168, and after centuries from Jason Gallian, Chris Read and Mark Ealham, they declared with a day to spare.
On 18 April, the County Championship began, but the first matches were dominated by rain; at Old Trafford, Lancashire and Hampshire played out 169.3 overs,[6] compared to the minimum of 408 set out in ECB regulations,[7] in a drawn game, while Gloucestershire overcame Somerset in Division Two despite 36 and 172 from Australian overseas player Cameron White.
[10] In Division Two, Surrey's first match after relegation saw them save the draw after following on against last year's wooden spoon winners Derbyshire,[11] and Essex and Northamptonshire also drew.
[12] In the South Conference, Essex (in a 10-over affair), Gloucestershire, Hampshire and Somerset (after Marcus Trescothick's 158) recorded wins, while Derbyshire, Lancashire and Worcestershire won in the North.
[15] Kent chased down 354 for the loss of three wickets against Middlesex at Lord's,[16] and Warwickshire, despite giving up 433 in the fourth innings, beat Yorkshire to go top of the table.
[12] In the South, Hampshire toppled leaders Essex after Shane Warne, Shaun Udal and Dominic Thornely shared out the last six wickets for 34 runs, in what was called a "collapse in spectacular fashion",[25] securing an eight-run win.
[35] Somerset failed to exploit the first-innings 154 from Marcus Trescothick, losing by an innings and 46 to Northamptonshire, whose top-scorer Lance Klusener made 147 not out,[36] and Derbyshire successfully defended a target of 213 against Glamorgan to win by 28 runs, with Steffan Jones taking six for 25.
[12] In the North, rain affected all four matches; Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire had to abandon their clash at Headingley, while Lancashire extended their lead with an eight-wicket win at Northamptonshire.
[39] Sussex seized the chance, beating defending champions Nottinghamshire inside three days at Hove despite going 86 down on first innings,[40] which was enough to see them take the league lead.
England, once again led by Andrew Flintoff due to Michael Vaughan's knee injury, batted first against Sri Lanka, declared on 551 for six, then took 19 wickets over the remaining three and a half days of play as the game ended in a draw.
Again, most matches ended in draws,[10] though Sussex increased their lead after Naved-ul-Hasan and Mushtaq Ahmed shared 19 wickets in Durham's efforts of 110 and 80.
[52] The Test gave England their first win of the home summer, with Liam Plunkett taking three top-order wickets as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 141.
Lancashire remained on top of the North Division at the end of May, despite playing out a no-result with Nottinghamshire, as Derbyshire beat second-placed Worcestershire to go back into second place, followed by Yorkshire who defeated Scotland at Headingley.
[10] Surrey went top of Division Two after beating Essex at Whitgift School, while Glamorgan lost to Somerset inside two days at Swansea and Leicestershire played out a draw with Northamptonshire.
On the same day, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire finished their match, which ended in a draw after three innings exceeding 190 (from Vikram Solanki, Steven Davies and Craig Spearman).
Durham beat Yorkshire on the last ball, England bowler Steve Harmison getting an "inside edge...past wicket-keeper Gerard Brophy" for four to secure a two-wicket win.
[60] Australian opener Jimmy Maher hit 124 not out for Durham, who still remained two points adrift of Lancashire after the Lancastrians won by five wickets against Scotland in Edinburgh.
[63] In Division Two, Glamorgan got their first win after their Australian overseas player Mark Cosgrove hit 233 against Derbyshire,[64] and Worcestershire beat Somerset with Ben Smith making a double hundred.
[68] England travelled to Ireland to play a one-off One Day International, where they beat their hosts by 38 runs after batting first and making 301 for seven, though they failed to bowl the Irish out in 50 overs.
Five matches started a day later, with Lancashire beating Warwickshire inside three days to take the Division One lead from Sussex,[69] Somerset failing to defend 356 against Surrey at Bath with Ali Brown scoring 126 at faster than a run a ball,[70] Worcestershire visiting Essex and scoring 650 for the second time in as many weeks to win by nine wickets, while Gloucestershire failed to convert their 750 runs into a victory over Derbyshire.
[73] The One-day International series began on Saturday 17 June, and Sri Lanka batted first to win in both the first two matches: first defending 257 for nine[74] after Upul Tharanga scored a career-best 120,[75] then 319 for seven with Sanath Jayasuriya making a hundred.
In the North, Northamptonshire won their first match of the season after Derbyshire lost their way from two to win and two wickets in hand,[77] while Nottinghamshire beat Warwickshire.
Hampshire retained third place at the summer break despite going down to Durham; they were bowled out for 104 in chase of 332 on the third day, with Callum Thorp taking five wickets to complete his 11-wicket-haul in the match.
In Division Two, Worcestershire closed the gap to Surrey to 18 points after an innings victory over Nottinghamshire, while Essex passed Derbyshire in the table with an eight-wicket win at Derby.
The weekend began with Sri Lanka securing an unassailable 3–0 lead in the ODI series, chasing down 262 after a hundred from Mahela Jayawardene, before the final round of the C&G Trophy on 25 June.
[80] In the North, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire recorded wins, Surrey won in the South along with Kent and Sussex after posting the highest score of the day with 218 for seven, including an opening stand of 148, before Tim Murtagh took three wickets and sent Middlesex to 13 for four, and in Midlands/Wales/West holders Somerset set a Twenty20 record total with 250 for three after Cameron White's unbeaten 116 and Justin Langer's 90, which saw them beat Gloucestershire by 117 runs.
Four Twenty20 matches were played in the evening: Essex and Surrey both bowled their opponents out for less than 110 in the South to achieve wins, Durham mustered 123 all out in a 52-run defeat at Nottinghamshire, and Glamorgan beat Warwickshire by six wickets after a 106-run stand between David Hemp and James Franklin.
Surrey got their first loss of the year after Yasir Arafat of Sussex took four wickets in their five-wicket win, leaving Nottinghamshire (who beat Yorkshire by 21 runs) and Glamorgan as the only unbeaten teams in the competition.
[83] On 20 August, the Fourth Test descended into chaos after the Pakistan team refused to come out after tea, in protest at having been penalised for ball tampering.