These days captains have about as much job security as breakfast radio DJs. This signifies quite a change from the early part of this decade when over half the county captains had had at least five years at the helm.
It is a poignant statistic, because it was around 1992 that four-day matches became a significant part of the firmament, and with the departure of three-day cricket went redeeming escape routes for ropey teams. Third (last) day collusion masked a multitude of sins, not least mouldy leadership, and several captains managed to remain on the top shelf way past their sell-by date.
Not any more. Four-day cricket brings skill, motivation and man-management into sharp focus, and in this precarious, pound-eyed society captains who fail to deliver good results are quickly fingered. It is no coincidence that the teams of the five guillotined men above finished the championship 16th, 18th, 15th, 14th and 11th respectively.
But in a task that requires a rhinoceros hide allied to a feline touch, poor performance is not the only precursor to unceremonial dis- robing. The emergence of expensive, high-profile coaches has jeopardised the authority of inexperienced captains. This is not necessarily deliberate, but the views of a strong, self-confident person like John Emburey an excellent reader of the game - will tend to triumph over a meeker one like Bailey, captain under coach Emburey at Northants.
A similar situation developed at Hampshire, where disagreements between Stephenson and Malcolm Marshall were common, and Stephenson soon lost the respect of the players. The fact that he had been recruited from elsewhere, ahead of locally-reared aspirants like Shaun Udal and Adrian Aymes, did not help. Nor did the fact that the team often looked incapable of holding their own in the Basingstoke and District League never mind the County Championship. Stephenson's intense personality may not have been ideal, but whatever his own failings, he felt totally undermined, and is unlikely to play for the county again.
Mark Ramprakash, suddenly landed with the Middlesex captaincy in early summer when the new England selector Mike Gatting decided for once that he had too much on his plate, had none of these difficulties. A newly erected honours board in the Lord's dressing-room listing all the Middlesex captains gave him the secure knowledge that the county do not habitually wield the axe (Mike Brearley and Gatting's leadership spans 26 years) and the first thing he was told on taking over was ``the captain runs the cricket. You're in charge.''
``Having that sort of responsibility made me feel worthwhile, and gave me the confidence to build something for the future,'' Ramprakash says.
He found the job all-consuming, often having restless nights pondering team selection or bowlers' ends. He confessed to occasionally losing concentration in the field while contemplating the next strategy, and dealt personally with individual gripes. ``Concentrating mainly on other players' needs, it is sometimes hard to get your own game together,'' he reflects, ``and ideally you need an energetic coach to organise all the preparation so that you can get on with worrying about the match.''
Cricket's complexity - a team sport based around individual conflict - makes finding the right authoritative balance tricky. In this competitive, impatient age, the safest solution is to follow Warwickshire's lead. With no outstanding candidate, pin your faith not on one captain, but four.
County Captains
Derbyshire Dominic Cork (to start 1998) Durham David Boon (since 1997) Essex Paul Prichard (1995) Glamorgan Matthew Maynard (1996) Gloucestershire Mark Alleyne (1997) Hampshire Vacant (John Stephenson resigned) Kent Steve Marsh (1996) Lancashire Vacant (Mike Watkinson resigned) Leicestershire James Whitaker (1996) Middlesex Mark Ramprakash (1997) Northamptonshire Vacant (Rob Bailey resigned) Nottinghamshire Paul Johnson (1996) Somerset Peter Bowler (1997) Surrey Adam Hollioake (1997) Sussex Vacant (Peter Moores standing down) Warwickshire Tim Munton (1997) Worcestershire Tom Moody (1995) Yorkshire David Byas (1996)