The 2005 English cricket season was the 106th in which the County Championship had been an official competition. Before it began, a resurgent England cricket team had won four Test series in a row, going unbeaten through the 2004 calendar year. The start of the international season saw England defeat Bangladesh 2–0 in their two-match series, winning both Tests by an innings. This was followed by a tri-nations one-day tournament that also featured Australia. Australia still started the Test series as favourites but most fans expected England to put up a challenge.
Essex County Cricket Club played their cricket during the 2005 season in Division Two of the County Championship and Division One of the Sunday League. They started the season 8–1 to win the Second Division Title, and were second in the Championship table at 9 May, but five matches without a win following that sent them down to fifth place at the Twenty20 break in June. They only intermittently broke into the top three after the Twenty20 break, and when they did their opponents behind them usually had a game in hand. They finished fifth, 15.5 points behind the promotion spot, and with 36 bowling points they picked up the fewest in the entire Division Two. In the National League, however, they only lost once in sixteen games – against Gloucestershire Gladiators in August – and won the League on 28 August with three games to play. In the C&G Trophy, they went out to Lancashire at the second round stage, while they finished fifth in the group stage of the Twenty20 Cup, two points off a guaranteed quarter-final spot.
Worcestershire County Cricket Club in 2005 played their County Championship games in Division Two and their Totesport League games in Division One. Under their new captain, Vikram Solanki, they were tipped to go straight back up to the top flight of the County Championship and started the season 9–2 second favourites to end up as Division Two champions.
Abdul-Kadeer Ali is an English first-class cricketer who is currently Assistant Head Coach at Worcestershire, where he started his first class playing career. He later played for Gloucestershire, Leicestershire and minor counties side Staffordshire as well as appearing for England A. He was capped by Gloucestershire in 2005. He is of Pakistani descent and studied at Handsworth Grammar School.
William Herbert Taylor was an English first-class cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium bowler who played 107 times for Worcestershire between 1909 and 1925, captaining the county in 1914, 1919 and 1922. He also made three first-class appearances for HK Foster's XI.
Sidney Thomas Freeman was an English cricketer, who played six first-class matches between 1919 and 1921, three each for Gloucestershire and HK Foster's XI.
John Jesse Bowles was an English cricketer who played 80 first-class games in two spells: he was with Gloucestershire from 1911 to 1920, though he played only 18 times for the county in those years. He made the bulk of his appearances, 62, for Worcestershire between 1926 and 1928.
Kevin Bertram Sidney Jarvis is a former English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Kent and Gloucestershire. He was an out-and-out bowler and poor batsman who almost always batted at number 11.
Hartley W Lobban was a Jamaican-born first-class cricketer who played 17 matches for Worcestershire in the early 1950s.
Matthew John Church is a former English cricketer who played county cricket for Worcestershire and Gloucestershire in the 1990s.
Matthew James Rawnsley is a former English cricketer who played county cricket at first-class and List A level for Worcestershire. He later played minor counties cricket, as well as making two List A appearances, for Herefordshire. Since retiring from playing professional cricket, he has had a successful career in business and has most recently returned to professional sport within administration.
James William Cecil Turner was an English first-class cricketer who played 46 matches for Worcestershire either side of the First World War, as well as appearing twice for H. K. Foster's XI.
John Bernard Higgins was an English first-class cricketer and umpire. As a player, he made 121 appearances between 1912 and 1930, having earlier played in the Minor Counties Championship for Staffordshire. The great majority of his first-class matches were for Worcestershire, though he also played in India for the Europeans and, once, a joint "Europeans and Parsees" side. He umpired four first-class games, including one Test match.
Maurice Kirshaw Foster was an English first-class cricketer who played in 170 matches. The great bulk of these (157) were for Worcestershire, which he captained for three seasons from 1923 to 1925. Foster also played first-class cricket for seven other teams, including the Gentlemen and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). He was one of seven Foster brothers to play for Worcestershire, and one of three to captain the side.
Ronald Ernest Bird (4 April 1915 – 20 February 1985) was an English cricketer who played 195 first-class matches in the years after the Second World War. 190 of these were for Worcestershire, while the other five were for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). He captained Worcestershire between 1952 and 1954, though he had acted as such on many occasions during the previous two seasons when official captain Bob Wyatt was unavailable. He usually batted at number four, while his fast-medium bowling was of the occasional variety: he never took a season's tally of wickets into double figures.
Frank Harry was an English cricketer, who played 69 first-class games for Lancashire in the early years of the 20th century, and then another seven for Worcestershire just after the First World War. He also turned out for Durham in the Minor Counties Championship between 1912 and 1914. After his retirement from playing, he stood in 21 games as an umpire, all in 1921.
Roger Charles MacDonald Kimpton, DFC was an Australian first-class cricketer who played 62 first-class games, mostly in the late 1930s. The majority of his appearances were for Oxford University and Worcestershire, although he appeared for the Gentlemen in both 1936 and 1937 and for an England XI in 1937. Unusually, he alternated somewhat between keeping wicket and bowling, although his success with the ball was limited.
Keith William Wilkinson is a former English first-class cricketer who played for Worcestershire between 1969 and 1975.
Simon Julian Spencer Kimber is a former English first-class cricketer who played first-class and List A cricket in the 1980s and 1990s.
Brian Joseph Barrett is a former New Zealand first-class cricketer who played for Auckland, Northern Districts and Worcestershire, also playing List A games for Northern Districts and Worcestershire and appearing at Youth Test and Youth One-day International level for his country. He was part of the New Zealand team that toured England in 1986, but never played a Test or ODI.