Day One

Words by Alex Smith, ECB Reporters Network

Tom Lawes claimed back-to-back five-wicket hauls as Surrey claimed three of the five points needed to be crowned LV= Insurance County Championship winners.

All-rounder Lawes pulled out the Hampshire middle-order for his third five-for of the season – worth five for 27 – with Kemar Roach picking up three for 41.

Hampshire built their below-par 219 around Ben Brown’s positive 78, before Mohammad Abbas pinned back Surrey to end the day on 47 for two - a deficit of 172. 

Surrey needed five points to be confirmed county champions for a second year in a row – even if they failed to do so all they’d need to do is avoid defeat to prevent Essex from overtaking them.

Early morning rain saw the toss, and play, delayed by an hour before Surrey choose to bowl – with Jamie Smith and Will Jacks likely to boost the batting latter in the game, once they return from England duty.

It took until the ninth over for Surrey to open up the Hampshire top-order as Toby Albert jabbed unconvincingly at Roach to edge to second slip Jamie Overton.

In the West Indian’s following over, he found Nick Gubbins chopping on a floaty ball outside off stump.

Point one of five was chalked off in the 18th over when James Vince back foot swish was gobbled by Overton to hand Lawes his first wicket with his fourth ball.

The pitch didn’t appear to have any demons in but Hampshire’s batters struggled to escape the accurate Surrey bowler’s clasp.

Fletcha Middleton was a fine example of this as he battled hard for 52 balls before losing the battle of patience against Jordan Clark – who cleaned out his off stump.

Lawes had been forced to wait until senior bowlers Roach, Dan Worrall, Jordan Clark and Overton had their go, but the 20-year-old out-shone them all.

The pace bowler claimed five for 105 against Northamptonshire last week and slaughtered the Hampshire middle-order.

After Vince, Tom Prest was Lawes’ next victim when last week’s century-maker followed his captain in wafting on the backfoot – this time Ben Foakes grabbed the simple catch.

The match-winning in Hampshire’s sensational victory over Essex last week, which put the title in Surrey’s hands, Liam Dawson failed to replicate his heroics as he drove to second slip.

Ian Holland stuck around to put on 33 with Brown – who was starting to get into his work – before Roach returned to strangle him down the legside.

Brown was forced to guide the tail through things to get the score towards respectability, with stands of 55 and 45 with James Fuller and Kyle Abbott.

The wicketkeeper has had a disappointing season with the bat in the Championship, with this his third fifty of the campaign. His best being the 95 he scored in the reverse fixture at the Kia Oval in April.

His ten boundaries all came square or behind the wicket on his way to a 63-ball half-century.

Fuller fell after a nicely crafted 25 when he was lbw to spinner Cam Steel before Brown gave a fourth wicket to Lawes and a fourth catch to second slip Overton. A third point in the bag for the Brown Caps.

Mohammad Abbas was the last to fall for a four-ball duck when Lawes pinned him leg before.

Surrey had 20 overs to bat out under the now clean-skied Utilita Bowl with 300 in their sights to win the title.

Abbas had other ideas as Dom Sibley faintly edged behind and Rory Burns played onto his own stumps for evening figures of two for 20.

But Ryan Patel and Sai Sudharsan carefully guided the visitors to the close.

Day Two

Words by Alex Smith, ECB Reporters Network

Liam Dawson moved to 45 LV= Insurance County Championship wickets with his fourth five-wicket haul of the season to delay Surrey’s title confirmation.

Left-arm spinner Dawson has had his best batting season since 2015 and best-ever bowling campaign as his five for 44 kept Surrey waiting in their quest to squash last contenders Essex.

Sai Sudharsan had led Surrey’s batting with an exceptional 73 before Jordan Clark came in and struck 50 not out.

Surrey were eventually bowled out for 207, 93 runs short of winning the crown, and a 12-run deficit to Hampshire, which was increased by one in a truncated 20 balls before bad light ended proceedings for the day.

Surrey needed to get to 300 in 110 overs to make sure they claimed the bonus points required to be confirmed champions for a second year in a row.

They began the day on 47 for two, replying to Hampshire’s 219, and by the time Ryan Patel had hoicked to deep midwicket off Dawson, they had only added 13 more runs in 53 minutes.

It would be Patel’s last action of the match as Jamie Smith will come in for him for the third innings of the match.

Getting to that 300 mark quickly was clearly not the priority – with winning the match and lifting the trophy on a high prominently mentioned by Tom Lawes the previous evening.

Hampshire’s tidy bowling didn’t help the run rate, neither did Ben Foakes taking 36 balls to get off the mark and even then, it was only a misfield that helped him move from a blob.

He never would look comfortable at the crease, although was perhaps unlucky to be given out lbw going back to Dawson.

Sudharsan was by no means lucid in his batting, but his classical style was pleasant on the eyes and accumulated runs at a workmanlike tempo.

The 21-year-old is one to watch in world cricket having struck a stunning 96 in the IPL final early this year, to go with two centuries in nine previous first-class matches.

His defence was solid, but his coup de gras was his varied shot-making, with proficiency shown on the drive, sweep and wristiness.

Sudharsan reached his maiden Championship fifty in exactly 100 balls.

He had been joined by Will Jacks – who had replaced five-wicket haul celebrator Lawes after returning from England duty – and the rate of scoring increased for a short period.

Jacks twice took on Ian Holland’s medium pace and twice dispatched the ball over the ropes, which helped the morning scoring to 67 runs.

Sudharsan was the victim of big bounce out the footholds from Dawson, as the Indian gloved to short leg, with Jacks leg before to James Fuller in the following over.

Dawson picked up his fourth when Cam Steel was lbw and Holland bowled a swinging Jamie Overton.

Jordan Clark belligerently scored a 75 balls half-century, his 21st in first-class cricket, as he put in 32 with Kemar Roach before the West Indian was caught at first slip with the second new ball.

Clark also scored all 15 runs with Dan Worrall at the other end, before the Australian-born seamer was bowled by Dawson - his 17th wicket in September.

Surrey’s failure to reach 300 is not a huge problem in their pursuit of glory.

Essex are stuttering against Northamptonshire and if they don’t reach 400, Surrey will automatically be champions.

Despite 18 overs still remaining, only 20 balls were bowled and a single run scored as bad light prevented Hampshire from really getting their second innings moving under lights.

Day Three

Words by Alex Smith, ECB Reporters Network

Surrey secured back-to-back LV= Insurance County Championship titles and the 21st in their history but slid towards an intriguing finale to the season.

The triumphant moment came at 12:24 and midway through a Will Jacks over after their only surviving competitor Essex had been bowled out for under 400 at Wantage Road – and could no longer secure the bonus points needed to overtake them.

Jacks pulled out of his run-up after the Surrey fans in the ground cheered and saluted the crowd before wider celebrations followed at lunch.

On the field, Surrey were set 185 for victory after they bowled Hampshire out for 172 – with Jacks toasting his maiden Surrey five-wicket haul. They lost six wickets and will require a tricky 73 on the final day.

Surrey were forced to be patient before securing successive championships while waiting for news from Northamptonshire versus Essex.

They had failed to score the bonus points themselves that would have made their lead at the top unassailable, so needed Essex to fall short of seven bonus points.

However, it became less and less likely that Tom Westley’s side could muster the runs and when Jamie Porter had been bowled by Tom Taylor up the M3, along the M25 and northbound up the M1, any lingering nerves were relinquished.

Jacks was midway through the 24th over of Hampshire’s second innings, with lunch on the horizon, when he pulled out his run up and clapped joyfully.

The rest of his team-mates remained professional to the task at hand, despite chants of “Champeones” from around them – with the lure of rounding off their successful campaign with a victory.

Before Essex’s first innings was ended, Surrey had made inroads with Dan Worrall securing his 48th wicket of the season – he’d end as Surrey’s joint-leading wicket-taker with Jordan Clark.

Worrall pinned Toby Albert lbw while stepping across his stumps before opening partner Fletcha Middleton was caught and bowled by Jacks.

Rain and lunch came and went, and Surrey’s title was confirmed, while James Vince and Nick Gubbins put on 64 runs.

In the process of reaching his eighth half-century of the season, he reached 1,000 first-class runs for the summer – the first Hampshire batter to achieve the feat since Sean Ervine in 2016.

But Jacks and Cam Steel took control of the innings with their spin – Jacks the all sorts off-spinner and Steel keeping it tight with his leg-spin. Both claimed personal bests in the Championship.

Gubbins ended his campaign with 969 runs when he was stumped down the leg side before Tom Prest was lbw going back to Jacks.

Vince pushed to first slip for 56, Ben Brown was leg before, Ian Holland reverse swept and James Fuller chopped on first ball – Hampshire the last three of those wickets for a single run.

Liam Dawson showed off his class with the bat for the final time this summer with 34 but was the last man out after Kyle Abbott had been lbw and he had swung to first slip.

Steel returned four for 40, as Jacks pilfered five for 87 – his only other five-wicket haul came on his England Test debut against Pakistan last year.

Jacks hadn’t bowled in the first innings having only been subbed in for Tom Lawes after returning from England duty. With Lawes taking a first-innings five-for it was a 10-for of sorts.

Surrey needed 185 to avoid losing for just the second time this season, and lost Dom Sibley in the eighth over when Dawson – who had opened the bowling – was caught behind.

Jamie Smith was lbw to Abbott before Prest entered the attack and bowled Rory Burns with a beauty before Ben Foakes edged behind.

Jacks attempted to win it before close with an entertaining 14-ball biff-a-thon – which included two sixes – before skying to mid off and Steel clubbed to mid on.

Sai Sudharsan was solid in his 31 before bad light ended play eight overs early with 73 runs, or four wickets, still needed for a result. 

Day Four

Words by Alex Smith, ECB Reporters Network

Hampshire became just the second team to beat Surrey across their back-to-back LV= Insurance County Championship titles.

Only Lancashire had beaten Surrey in 2022 and 2023 in red ball cricket, winning once in either campaign.

But Liam Dawson took his season tally to 49 wickets by taking two of the four wickets needed to secure victory, with Surrey only scoring 20 of the 73 required to lose by 52 runs before 11am.

Despite the defeat, Surrey were presented with the Division One trophy by ECB chair Richard Thompson.

Surrey had made it clear throughout the match that they had the intention to finish their triumphant season off with a victory.

That plan was skewed somewhat after they were confirmed as champions before lunch on day three, and celebrations took place after plan concluded.

It took five balls for Jordan Clark to advance to Mohammad Abbas and prod to James Vince at first slip.

Jamie Overton came out and played a delicious straight drive, holding the pose like a peacock, and then a powerful sweep shot.

But was less gainly when his agricultural swing saw him stumped by Ben Brown off Dawson, the start of three wickets to fall in 12 balls to end the year.

Kemar Roach departed second ball when his wild swing flew to first slip, with the Abbas and Vince combo striking again. The Pakistan seamer ended the campaign with 53 scalps.

Sai Sudharsan, a first innings half-century maker, batted sensibly until Dan Worrall arrived and hacked at one, at which point his stylish 40 turned more towards aggression.

The Indian took on Dawson but only managed to top edge to Vince running across from the slips to end the contest and the season.

Hampshire finishing third for a second year in a row having won eight times – the same as the champions.