With Alec Stewart’s outfit increasingly resembling a cricketing Manchester City in terms of squad depth and quality, it is no surprise that Surrey retained the County Championship with a game to spare. The success could so easily have been rubber-stamped the week before had it not been for Somerset’s unexpected triumph at Taunton. This time, normal service was resumed. Surrey easily defeated Durham at The Oval before being crowned champions as soon as Somerset were bowled out a second time by Lancashire at Old Trafford on the final morning.
Ryan Patel’s 134 and eight wickets from Dan Worrall did for Durham, but Rory Burns made another decent contribution as both opening bat and skipper. Meanwhile, Somerset blew their opportunity to maintain the pressure. No fewer than 21 wickets fell on the first day, with Craig Overton, Lewis Gregory and Toms Bailey and Balderson each claiming four. On the second outing, Lancashire recovered admirably. Luke Wells struck a century, then his 4-34 proved crucial as the visitors crumbled from 107-1 to 224 all out.
Hampshire advanced to second place, thumping Worcestershire at home by 235 runs. A stand of 220 by Nick Gubbins (201 not out) and Liam Dawson (109) laid down the gauntlet, but only Garth Roderick (94) and Ethan Brookes (132) made any headway against the strong attack. Hampshire chose to bat again, and Kyle Abbott sealed maximum points with 5-36.
At Canterbury, Kent succumbed to their eighth Championship defeat, this time at the hands of Nottinghamshire, who surely now only need avoid losing their final fixture to remain in the top flight. Ben Slater’s 160 and 196-run opening partnership with Haseeb Hameed set the ball rolling, and Kent were helpless to stop it.
It took Essex under two days to flatten Warwickshire at Edgbaston,
but the hosts have surely done enough to be relegated. Shane Snater (5-13) in
the first innings and Jamie Porter (6-36) in the second inflicted the most
damage. They now welcome Surrey in the season’s last week, while Somerset and
Hampshire meet at Taunton to decide the runners-up position. At the other end,
Lancashire must beat Worcestershire to have any chance of staying up.
Sussex will definitely replace Kent in Division One next year after crushing Gloucestershire by an innings at Hove. Jaydev Unadkat was the pick of the bowlers but Henry Crocombe polished off the last four batsmen to complete the rout. Middlesex also won by a similar margin a day early, their victims being bottom county Derbyshire. The soon-to-depart opener Mark Stoneman delivered a crisp 115, while Toby Roland-Jones continued his recent form by amassing ten wickets in the match.
However, for them to achieve promotion, they must beat Sussex and hope Yorkshire fall to Northamptonshire next week. The White Roses were always on top against Glamorgan, with Ben Coad scooping eight more victims. Northants sit in fourth having eclipsed Leicestershire by nine wickets. James Sales struck 135 to take control of the match and Leicestershire looked odds-on to lose by an innings, sliding to 92-7 second time out. However, Scott Currie shared a couple of century partnerships to make Northants bat again. I should also mention wicketkeeper Lewis McManus. He only made thirty runs but managed four stumpings to spinners Keogh and Chahal, a rare feat in the modern game.
Team of the Week:- Slater (Not), Stoneman (Mid), Gubbins (Ham), Brookes
(Not), L Wells (Lan), Dawson (Ham), McManus (Nor +), Snater (Ess), Worrall
(Sur), Roland-Jones (Mid), Porter (Ess)
