County Championship: Kemar Roach sets up Surrey victory over Warwickshire

Kemar Roach's 4-20 on the final morning was crucial to Surrey claiming victory at the Oval

Kemar Roach produced a stunning spell of pacy swing bowling to set up Surrey's remarkable six-wicket win over Warwickshire.

Roach's final morning six-over burst of 4-20 earned him second-innings figures of 5-72 as Warwickshire slid from an overnight 270-4 to 310 all out in just under an hour.

Surrey then raced to 252-4, with Hashim Amla cruising to 80 not out and Ollie Pope hitting a quickfire 52 in a 101-run stand after 61 from England colleague Rory Burns.

• Final day action, as it happened

The match was won and lost before lunch as instead of being able to press for victory themselves, relegation-threatened reigning champions Warwickshire were suddenly left knowing that even the consolation of eight points for a draw was out of the equation.

Jordan Clark supported Roach superbly with two wickets of his own, to finish with 3-61, and Surrey romped to the seventh win of their campaign midway through the last session with 21.2 overs to spare on a pitch that had encouraged the seamers for much of the first three days but which, long before the end, had dried out noticeably to make batting easier.

Despite second-placed Hampshire also winning against Yorkshire at Scarborough, and third-placed Lancashire beating Kent at Old Trafford, Surrey's 22-point win has actually extended their lead at the top of Division One to 16 points over Hampshire, and 34 over Lancashire, with the last three rounds of the Championship season to come in September.

Warwickshire, who took just five points, are now only five points clear of ninth-placed Somerset, who have a game in hand, at home to Gloucestershire, before they travel to Edgbaston on 12 September.

Warwickshire's final-day collapse turned the game dramatically on its head inside the opening hour. At one stage they lost four wickets in 15 balls and, overall, their last six wickets fell for the addition of only 40 runs in 11.5 overs.

But the two prime dismissals - the top two Bears run scorers Sam Hain and Michael Burgess - were controversial.

Umpire Billy Taylor gave an astonished Hain out for 96 to a legside catch by England keeper Ben Foakes, then upheld an lbw appeal when Burgess was hit flush on the boot on the line of leg stump to a hooping inswinger from Roach.

But Roach and Clark still bowled with great skill and fire to polish off Warwickshire's second innings, finding consistent swing despite warmer and less cloudy conditions than the previous three mornings.

Bears skipper Will Rhodes was first to go, for 74, after adding just two runs to his overnight score, when the left-hander nibbled at an outswinger from Roach, bowling from around the wicket, in the third over of the day.

Then, nine runs later, came the Hain decision when, having taken his season's Championship run tally to 954, he swished at a ball that swung down the legside to a tumbling Foakes.

The dismissal of Burgess, the Bears' second top run scorer, in the same over, after two beautifully-struck fours, was another big blow for Warwickshire and soon they lost on-loan Brad Wheal, pinned leg-before by Jordan Clark.

Nathan McAndrew was next out, bowled by Roach aiming an expansive off drive against another inswinger, leaving Liam Norwell to eke out another 17 runs for the last wicket with Oliver Hannon-Dalby, who was athletically held at long leg.

Surrey's chase with a purposeful opening stand of 58 ended when Ryan Patel lifted a drive at Nathan McAndrew to extra cover to go for 24. But Burns, who had survived a big lbw shout on 0 when he shouldered arms at Liam Norwell, then combined well with Amla before he tried to whip a ball through a well-set legside field and was caught at mid wicket.

Pope's aggressive cameo ended with a top-edged hoick to point off Wheal and Foakes also skied a catch off Briggs but Will Jacks arrived to sweep and then reverse-sweep his first and fourth balls for six, both off Briggs, before finishing the match with another six over extra cover off Wheal.

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.

Surrey captain Rory Burns told BBC Radio London:

"With three games to go now, in September, and us top of Division One you can't help but think about it.

"Yes, we will allow ourselves that dream but, when those last three matches come along, we will simply stick with our processes and concentrate on doing our jobs.

"Throughout the season, different people have put their hands up and performed when the team need them. It shows the resilience of our squad. And Kemar Roach's spell this morning was so skilful.

"To take their last six wickets in an hour was better even than we could have hoped for. But he deserved his wickets for the way he has run in all match, especially following the injury to Jamie Overton. And Jordan Clark also bowled really well in support."

Warwickshire first team coach Mark Robinson told BBC Radio WM:

"Sam Hain was definitely unlucky but overall we have to be better than that.

"We lost six wickets in an hour and you should not do that from the position we were in.

"All the good work and the hard work we had done over the previous three days was undone in that session of play."