County Championship: Hampshire take last four Surrey wickets to beat champions

Despite defeat in their final match Surrey finished 20 points clear of Essex at the top of Division One

Hampshire became just the second team to beat Surrey in the County Championship this season as they finished off the newly crowned champions in rapid time at Southampton.

Just a day after sealing their 21st county title triumph, Surrey began needing 73 more runs for a ninth victory of the season.

But, instead, they lost their last four men for just 20 runs as Hants matched their summer's haul of eight Championship wins to secure third place for the second year in a row.

Only Lancashire had previously beaten Surrey in red-ball cricket this season, having also been the only team to beat them in 2022.

But England spinner Liam Dawson, who extended his season's best haul to 49, and Pakistan seamer Mohammad Abbas, who ended the campaign with 53 scalps, got the job done inside half an hour, taking two wickets each.

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Surrey had made it clear throughout the match that they had the intention to finish their triumphant season off with a victory. But all they had to show in the end was being presented with the Division One trophy by England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Richard Thompson.

It took just five balls for the first Surrey wicket to fall when Jordan Clark advanced down the wicket to Abbas and prodded to Hants skipper James Vince at first slip.

Jamie Overton came out and played a straight drive and then a powerful sweep shot, but then produced an agricultural swing which allowed him to be stumped by Ben Brown off Dawson.

It was the first of three wickets to fall in 12 balls.

The Abbas and Vince combination struck again when Kemar Roach departed second ball after his wild swing flew to first slip.

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

The Indian then took on Dawson but only managed to top edge to Vince, who took his third catch of the final morning of the season.

Hampshire captain James Vince:

"It is nice to finish with a win. We've finished off with three wins in a row including Essex and champions Surrey.

"Liam Dawson has been fantastic. He got off to a tricky start but, since the end of April, he has been fantastic with bat and ball. He's stood up in crucial moments and, when wickets have assisted him, he's played a massive part.

"It is easy to look back at little moments where we could have turned a loss into a draw or a draw into a win. We know how close we are but also how much those small margins in games impact the overall season.

"Third is disappointing, our goal is to win the Championship, but at the same time to finish in the top three consistently shows we are doing a lot of things well.

"We made [T20 Blast] Finals Day, lost in the final of the One-Day Cup and finished third in the Championship. One of those years where you have been there or thereabouts in all competitions but have nothing to show for it.

"But credit to Surrey for winning it. They have been the stand-out team across the whole season and deserve to be champions."

Surrey head coach Gareth Batty:

"It was a weird way to get over the line half way through the day but the County Championship is set up over six months

"You don't win it over one day or one game. It is the marathon cup and you still have to still celebrate it and respect it even if you are then on the wrong end of the result.

"We completely understand why, because we had already got to the point we had driven towards all season, and that was to lift the trophy again."

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network.