Once again, the dominance of Australians on cricket fields across the world this winter has extended well beyond merely the national team's endeavours.

While the country's top teams were claiming the NatWest Series of one-day internationals against England and Pakistan and a 4-1 Ashes victory over the old enemy, many more of its players were making a similarly emphatic mark elsewhere.

The highlights of another outstanding collective performance from 13 Australian imports in English county competition this year arrived in memorable victories for Darren Lehmann and Jamie Cox at Yorkshire and Somerset respectively.

Lehmann was the shining light behind a remarkable triumph for his club as it gained the accolade of being English cricket's champion first-class team for the first time in 33 years. Under the coaching of fellow Australian Wayne Clark, he played a pivotal role in all nine of the northerners' victories, amassing 1416 runs at the mountainous average of 83.29. Little wonder then that Yorkshire captain David Byas was moved to describe his deputy's contribution as akin to having Sir Donald Bradman in the side.

Somerset followers will remember 2001 as a similarly golden year in their club's history. For this was not only the year in which, in finishing as runner-up to the Yorkshiremen, the men from cider country ended in their highest-ever position in 111 assaults upon the Championship. It was also the year in which its team, under Cox's leadership, claimed a one-day title for the first time since 1983. Back then, it had the services of no less a trio than Ian Botham, Joel Garner and Viv Richards at its disposal; now, just a Tasmanian and a hard-working troupe of largely unheralded players performing gallantly in game after game for him.

Elsewhere, Mike Hussey's insatiable appetite for runs helped him shatter the convention that the 2,000 first-class run mark has now become insurmountable in England. He was not simply the leading run-scorer in the country for 2001 but, six months after his first step into county competition, he has a triple century, two double centuries, three other three-figured scores, and 16 half-centuries to show for his efforts at the top of the order for Northamptonshire.

Although only a late call-up, Andrew Symonds was a key member of the side that delivered Kent the National League title, and Murray Goodwin exerted a heavy influence over Sussex's success in clinching the Division Two title at first-class level. With 66 first-class wickets (not to mention a hat-trick and a one-day century), Andy Bichel was Worcestershire's Player of the Year and fellow Queenslanders Stuart Law, Martin Love and Jimmy Maher were consistently among the runs for Essex, Durham and Glamorgan respectively.

After stunning success in recent times at one-day level, it was a disappointing year in many respects for Gloucestershire. But such a summation of the season could not be extended to Ian Harvey, whose all-round talents were again demonstrated with aplomb. Greg Blewett also enjoyed a fruitful season at Nottinghamshire, particularly with the bat.

Although the advent of a fractured cheekbone brought an early end to his season, Daniel Marsh was an integral part of Leicestershire's very successful start to the summer, and fellow Tasmanian Michael DiVenuto again produced a number of fine innings for Derbyshire. A third Tasmanian, Chris Bassano, took advantage of his dual citizenship to join DiVenuto in the Derbyshire first eleven, and sent statisticians scattering for their record books by scoring twin centuries on Championship debut.

Victorian John Davison and Queenslander Jeff Thomas are others who will also fondly remember their winters. As an important player and a cool-headed coach respectively at this year's ICC Trophy tournament in Toronto, the pair were at the heart of an amazing triumph for Canada as it secured a berth in the World Cup.

Canadian-born Davison and now Canadian-resident Thomas were both key members of the team which finished third in the tournament, and which will therefore join the Netherlands and Namibia as the other ICC Associate qualifiers on world cricket's biggest stage in South Africa two years from now. While the tournament was not a source of such happy memories for Joe Scuderi and Peter DiVenuto (whose own chance to play in the event was dashed when ICC officials ruled them ineligible to compete for Italy), Davison and Thomas will likely never forget the mood of euphoria that greeted their team's achievement.

Tasmania's Damien Wright made his now customarily huge impression in Scotland, even to the point of starring for its national team as its one permitted overseas player in Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy competition. Last winter a popular choice as the 'Overseas Player of the Year', he was again a major contributor as his Grange club swept all before it. One of the few prizes his team didn't win (the national one-day championship) was taken by Greenock, a side which relied heavily on fellow Tasmanian Dene Hills' input. Victoria's Jason Arnberger also enjoyed another solid year at Aberdeen.

Victorian influence was also strong in league competition in England, nowhere more clearly than in Lancashire. Bowlers there found the task of curbing the talents of Matthew Mott and Brad Hodge near-impossible, as each set about accumulating record-breaking personal run-tallies for club teams Rawtensall and Ramsbottom. It was also the stage for a tremendous season for Tasmanian all-rounder Shaun Young, who not only received a championship medal for Bacup but also narrowly missed out on securing the double of scoring 1,000 runs and claiming 100 wickets.

With the vast bulk of these players returning to begin state commitments back at home almost immediately, it leaves it a moot question as to whether many will have adequate time to reflect on their achievements. Given the amount of prizes they're likely to bring back with them from awards nights, though, they should be able to at least partly reminisce as they alter from living their lives by the moon to the sun again over the next week or two.

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd