Chris Read: Nottinghamshire captain's final season was 'phenomenal'

Chris Read was given a guard of honour when he left the field at Hove

Nottinghamshire's retiring captain Chris Read says his last season in county cricket was "phenomenal".

Notts won the One-Day Cup and T20 Blast and were promoted in the Championship.

Read, who spent 20 years at Notts, bows out of cricket after scoring 16,361 first-class runs, 5,564 in the one-day format and 1,441 in Twenty20 matches.

"The season exceeded all expectations. Looking back at the last few weeks, you did question if we would get promoted," said the 39-year-old.

"To my mind, any season you win a white-ball trophy is good and to win two is phenomenal - and then there's the promotion on top of that. "

The former England wicketkeeper twice lifted the County Championship trophy for Notts and has been at the forefront of their recent successes in the shorter formats of the game.

Notts were dominant this season in white-ball cricket as they won the One-Day Cup with a four-wicket win over Surrey at Lord's, where Read scored a vital 58 as Notts chased down 298 to win.

Chris Read lifted the One-Day cup twice in four years

It was followed by their inaugural T20 Blast title, secured by beating Birmingham Bears by 22 runs at Edgbaston.

Read was also part of the club's T20 coaching staff as Notts blooded young players to prepare for the wicketkeeper's pending departure to take up a role of director of cricket at Uppingham School in Rutland.

In the Championship, they led the Division Two table for much of the season, but successive defeats by Worcestershire and Northants left them needing a maximum of 12 points from their final game against Sussex at Hove.

Notts looked in trouble at one stage, when Sussex posted 565 and they were 65-5 in reply, but Read (124) scored a fairytale century in his final game, putting on 242 for the sixth wicket with Billy Root (132) to help avoid the follow-on.

In the end, Notts were promoted in second place behind Division Two winners Worcestershire and it was Northants who missed out in third.

Read, who plans to be part of the Nottinghamshire coaching team in some capacity when time allows in 2018, told BBC Nottingham Sport: "The goal was to be back in Division One of the County Championship.

"That's what our members expect and that's what we expect. I think there would have been a slight sour taste had we not achieved that.

"The fact that we have been promoted, it has been a magical season. It has been a long season full of some fantastic success.

"To come off at the end of my career and the end of the season having being able to hit all those goals, I am exceptionally proud and happy with the way things have gone."