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. They started the season with a convincing win against Derbyshire in the Championship, followed by a comfortable win over Northamptonshire in a rain-affected Sunday League game. Their second game of the Championship, against Durham at Chester-le-Street, however, was a humiliating 7 wicket defeat inside two days. They then lost a close game against Lancashire over four days, and another close game against Middlesex on the following Sunday. On 5 May they eased past Scotland to reach the Second Round of the C&G Trophy. In the second week of May, they were humbled by Loughborough UCCE, who comfortably beat them. They recovered well, though, securing a 9 wicket win in their next Championship game, against Derbyshire, and then won a closely fought game by 16 runs against Nottinghamshire. On 17 May Worcestershire were eliminated from the C&G Trophy in the Second Round by Yorkshire. An important win came away at Essex in the fifth game in the Championship, before they lost to Glamorgan Dragons in the National League. June started with a draw in the Championship against Division Two leaders, Durham, before Worcestershire became the first English side to lose to Bangladesh, in a one-day match at New Road. And that poor form continued, losing at Leicestershire in the Championship despite being on top for most of the match, and then being bowled out for 164 to lose a match with Essex by 39 runs in the National League. In Twenty20, however, they found a way to recover, beating local rivals Warwickshire – it did not last long, though, because losses to Somerset and Gloucestershire followed. In fact, their only positives in the Twenty20 Cup were the two one-run victories over Warwickshire, as every other match apart from their last one with Glamorgan Dragons ended without a victory – and the last one was academic anyway. The Championship did not give any relief, either, as they lost to Yorkshire by three wickets, before Glamorgan got the better of them in the National League, where Worcestershire had now slumped to last place. They also