Durham Drop Down While Nottinghamshire Celebrate Title Win

Warwickshire were put in to bat at Trent Bridge, where fans were waiting to acclaim their title hopefuls, and were bowled out for 258, with Brett Hutton taking four for 46. Skipper Haseeb Hameed led the reply with 122, his fourth century of the summer, as Nottinghamshire hit back with a total of 374; Alex Davies took six catches behind the stumps. The visitors fell away to a score of 133 in their second innings, leaving the hosts to chase just 18, which they achieved without loss and it was appropriate that Hameed was batting as Nottinghamshire wrapped up their first title since 2010. With seven wins, compared to nearest-rival Surrey’s five, it was fully deserved. And it was notable that between their top five batters only Freddie McCann missed one game all season – that consistency in selection was unmatched by any other side, which surely helped them to recording three successive wins at the business end of the season.

Surrey travelled down to Southampton with an outside chance of snatching the title after their defeat to Nottinghamshire in the previous round, but scoring 147 in their first innings made that exceptionally unlikely. Hampshire, fighting for their survival in a three-way relegation battle, hit back with 248 to put them in charge. Debutant Ralphie Albert hit 63 in Surrey’s second innings, the highest score of the match, to push his side up to 281, despite Kyle Abbott’s five for 72. That left Hampshire to chase 181 to guarantee their survival. An opening partnership of 61 set them nicely on their way, before Surrey’s other debutant, Indian spinner Rahul Chahar, took over. He would end with figures of eight for 51, the best by anyone this season, the best by any Surrey debutant, and all on his maiden appearance in England, giving him match figures of ten for 118. Hampshire had no answer and tumbled to 160 all out, losing by 20 runs, which meant the result of the game between Yorkshire and Durham was vital.

At Leeds, both sides were facing possible relegation, with a draw likely to be enough for both to stay up. Durham chose to bat first and Ben Raine top-scored with 101 to lead his side to a handy total of 346 all out, while Jack White took five for 69 (his best figures for Yorkshire). Mayank Agarwal’s first three innings for Yorkshire had yielded just 26 runs, but he put that right now at the most crucial time, hitting 175 to inspire his side to 475 in reply. Raine took five for 76 to give him the match double of a century and five wickets in an innings. With most of the final day remaining, all Durham had to do was to bat out time. At lunch they had reached 27 for one off 23 overs, so all seemed under control, with a deficit of 102 still to be knocked off. But the next 21.5 overs saw nine wickets fall for just 62 more runs as George Hill (four for 14) and Dom Bess (four for 22) tore through the Durham batting. Hill finished the season with 56 wickets, joint second with Hampshire’s Kyle Abbott. All out for 85, Durham were beaten by an innings and 44 runs and relegated by one point.

Sussex travelled west to New Road where the hosts were already planning for 2026 and hoping to make a swift return to the top division. They gave Isaac Mohammed a debut, and he scored 5 in their total of 123. Ollie Robinson did most of the damage, taking six for 68. In reply, Sussex hit back with 350, James Coles making 102 and John Simpson 129 not out. Worcestershire avoided an innings defeat by reaching 287 all out. Robinson was again the main threat, taking five for 74 to finish with match figures of 11 for 142. With just 61 required for victory, Sussex made immensely hard work of it, stumbling to a three-wicket win. Tom Taylor took four for 22 to give himself 58 wickets for the season – the most of any bowler.

There wasn’t much at stake at Chelmsford, where Somerset chose to bat and made 433 all out, Lewis Goldsworthy top-scoring with 100, while Joshua Thomas made 86 not having batted in his debut match. That score seemed in danger of being inadequate when Dean Elgar (118) and Paul Walter (a career-best 158) put on 277 for the first wicket, but Craig Overton took six for 88 to bring his side back into contention and Essex were dismissed for 438. Somerset collapsed to 99 all out in their second innings, leaving Essex to chase just 95, which they achieved for the loss of three wickets.

In the Second Division, all the key outcomes were decided so teams had only pride at stake. Champions Leicestershire made the short journey to Northampton and chose to bat first. Stephen Eskinazi made a strong early impression for his new county, top-scoring with 155 as his side made 429 all out. There were two debutants for the hosts: Arush Buchake opened the batting and scored 35 while Stuart van der Merwe made 5. Northamptonshire were all out for 189. The visitors did not enforce the follow-on, but scored 260 for five declared to set a mammoth target of 501. Saif Zaib made his second fifty of the match, and in so doing confirmed himself as the season’s leading runscorer, with 1425, ahead of Ben Compton on 1386. But the real excitement came when van der Merwe scored 116, thus becoming the only player to make a century on debut this summer. It wasn’t enough as the home side were all out for 333, losing by 167 runs. Liam Trevaskis took a career-best six for 85.

Runners-up Glamorgan lost by seven wickets to Lancashire at Sophia Gardens. Put in to bat, they were dismissed for 265, with Tom Bailey taking five for 51. The Red Rose outfit replied with 374, which could have been more but for Timm van der Gugten picking up five for 85. No one made the big runs necessary to put the pressure on Lancashire, as the hosts made 241 in their second innings, setting a modest target of 133, which was achieved in exactly 20 overs.

Derbyshire finished third after they crushed bottom-placed Kent at Canterbury. Having chosen to bat first, the visitors took full advantage. Luis Reece made 211, the best score of his career, while Wayne Madsen fell two short of his double century. Together the pair added a county record 358 for the third wicket. Madsen eventually declared on 698 for six. Jack Morley took five for 99 as Kent reached 271 all out in reply, and were asked to follow on. Reece completed a remarkable match double, with five for 63 in the second innings to go alongside his double century (he was the first to achieve this feat in the Championship since Darren Stevens of Kent in 2019), as the Kent batting folded again, all out for 198. Derbyshire’s winning margin of an innings and 229 runs – it was their fifth biggest innings victory and their biggest since 1933.

Middlesex welcomed Gloucestershire to Lord’s but showed little mercy after they chose to bat. Skipper Leus du Plooy made a career-best 263 not out, adding 179 for the eighth wicket with Sebastian Morgan (97 in just his third game). Du Plooy declared on 634 for nine, and Ajeet Dale took five for 108. Zafar Gohar then picked up five for 53 while Noah Cornwell took a career-best four for 58 as the visitors were dismissed for 286 and had to follow on. They did no better second time, bowled out for 281, and were beaten by an innings and 67 runs. Daaryoush Ahmed made his debut for Gloucestershire but didn’t take a wicket or score a run, though he was not out in both innings.