Surrey on Fire thanks to Burns

After a gap dating back to 3 July, the Vitality County Championship returned, to the relief of many who felt that a seven-week pause at the height of the summer was too long. But the break in the season had done nothing to slow down Surrey’s relentless march towards a third successive champions’ pennant. If they achieve the hat-trick, they will become the first side to do this since Yorkshire in 1966-68, as they evolve into the cricketing equivalent of Manchester City.

Struggling Lancashire were the visitors to The Oval, where the hosts chose to field first. The Red Rose gave debuts to two players: Rocky Flintoff, who made 32, and bowler Joshua Boyden. Lancashire have struggled with the bat for most of the season, and this proved no different, as they were all out for 204, Jordan Clark taking four for 57. Skipper Rory Burns then made a career-best 227 in his side’s reply of 444 for nine declared. India’s Sai Sudharsan returned to the side to bolster the batting, but made only 6. In Lancashire’s second innings, Matthew Hurst again top-scored, but no one else came close to his 64, as the visitors fell away to 177 all out, with Conor McKerr taking four for 27. A win by an innings and 63 runs reinforced Surrey’s lead at the top, 35 points clear of the rest, as their nearest rivals failed to win. To make the achievement even more impressive, they were missing four players involved in the England Test side, among them Jamie Smith, who became the first batter this summer to reach 1000 runs (he has 1034). Surrey also possess the two leading wicket-takers, in Daniel Worrall and Gus Atkinson (another absent with England), both of whom have 40 this season.

At Edgbaston, Somerset chose to field, but Rob Yates (69), Jacob Bethell (64) and Michael Burgess (69) all provided useful resistance as Warwickshire made 337 all out, despite Josh Davey and Craig Overton both taking four wickets. The away side was reduced to 65 for five in reply, but Kasey Aldridge (84) led a fightback that saw them up to 239 all out. Ed Barnard finished with figures of five for 54. Alex Davies continued his fine season with a score of 131, as the hosts made 270, Jack Leach picking up five for 77. Somerset had a notional target of 369, but had reached 206 for four when the game ended as a draw.

Essex are three points behind Somerset in third place after they drew at Southampton in a rain-affected game where Hampshire chose to field after the first day was washed out. Dean Elgar made his third century of the summer (136) before Jordan Cox hit a quickfire 141 off just 124 balls to help his side declare on 438 for eight. Hampshire found two centurions of their own in Toby Albert (a career-best 124) and Tom Prest, scoring a career-high of 156, as they hit back with 424 for eight declared, despite Matt Critchley taking five for 96.

Worcestershire surely condemned Kent to relegation after beating them by eight wickets at New Road. The away side was put in to bat and only Tawanda Muyeye, with 56, reached 30 as they were bowled out for just 171, Joe Leach taking six for 52. Kent had signed up Akeem Jordan in the hope of boosting their survival chances, and he justified their faith by taking five for 97, but there were many useful contributions all the way down the order for the hosts, who replied with 447. Muyeye played even more of a lone hand in Kent’s second innings as he hit a superb career-best 211 out of a total of 376. Worcestershire’s own new overseas recruit, the rather unheralded New Zealander James Hartshorn, took two for 71. That left the home side needing 101 for victory, which they managed without alarm. The win moved Worcestershire to the top of the four sides battling to avoid joining Kent in the Second Division in 2025, as they now have 114 points, ahead of Warwickshire (109), Nottinghamshire (104) and Lancashire (103).

At Chester-le-Street, Durham were emphatic winners after they were put in to bat by Nottinghamshire. Teenager Ben McKinney hit a rapid maiden century (121 off 129 balls), eventually becoming Freddie McCann’s first wicket on his first-class debut, and put on 189 for the first wicket with Alex Lees (who went on to make 145). Ashton Turner added 114 not out and Durham declared on 531 for seven. Durham new recruit Neil Wagner took four for 68, while their debutant, 19-year-old Daniel Hogg, landed his first wicket (Brett Hutton) as Nottinghamshire were bowled out for 229 and forced to follow on. Jack Haynes (69) and Matthew Montgomery (38) batted together for more than three hours and 50 overs, but they could not prevent the inevitable defeat as they were bowled out for 285. Hogg was the one to do all the damage, picking up seven for 66 – no Durham bowler has ever taken eight wickets in an innings on debut. Hogg’s efforts secured victory by an innings and 17 runs. The production line of cricketers emerging from Durham looks in excellent order still.

In the Second Division, the race for promotion was blown wide open when Yorkshire recorded a four-wicket victory over Sussex at Scarborough (the long journey north made just that little bit longer!). Sussex were asked to bat first, but Tom Alsop (86 not out) lacked support as his side scored 189 all out. Jonny Bairstow returned for just his third Championship appearance since the start of the 2021 season and made 57 as the hosts replied with 326. Jaydev Unadkat had been recruited by Sussex to help see them to promotion, and he took two for 41, but it was Jack Carson who had the most success, finishing with five for 83. Sussex needed a big second innings but could muster only 239, as Ben Coad took five for 69. That left a target of only 103, but Carson made it tough, picking up four for 37, as Yorkshire eventually secured the win that left them nine points adrift of Sussex at the top of the table.

The two sides are split by Middlesex, who won at Merchant Taylors’ School to close within six points of Sussex and keep themselves three ahead of Yorkshire. The hosts asked Northamptonshire to bat first, and skipper Toby Roland-Jones justified his decision by picking up five for 49 as the visitors were bowled out for 207. Leus du Plooy’s 71 was the vital component of Middlesex’s reply of 264, while Ben Sanderson did the damage with the ball, taking six for 64. New recruit Yuzvendra Chahal picked up just one wicket. Roland-Jones was again the key bowler in Northamptonshire’s second innings, with six for 58 giving him match figures of 11 for 107. The away side managed just 167 to leave Middlesex chasing 111 for victory, which they achieved for the loss of two wickets, Sam Robson blasting 64 not out off 42 balls.

Meanwhile Derbyshire recorded a ten-wicket win over Glamorgan at Derby to move off the bottom of the table, leading Northants by a point. The hosts chose to field first and reduced Glamorgan to 32 for six before they staged something of a recovery to get up to 168 all out, with Zak Chappell finishing with six for 47, his best figures for the county. Glamorgan, taking a leaf out of Worcestershire’s book, welcomed Fraser Sheat to their bowling attack, but he went wicketless as Derbyshire replied with 429, Anuj Dal top-scoring with 94; Ben Kellaway took the first three wickets of his nascent career. Glamorgan could muster only 287 in their second innings, which left Derbyshire needing just 27 for victory.

At Bristol, the hosts chose to field, but Ian Holland scored 104 to set Leicestershire on their way to a total of 402. But that score was soon put into context when Ben Charlesworth made the biggest score of his career (210) and joined James Bracey (207 not out) in a fourth-wicket partnership of 290 as Gloucestershire hit back with 544 for four declared. Bracey is second among the leading runscorers of the summer, with 970. It was only the second time in the county’s history that two batters had scored double hundreds in the same innings, the last time being in 1930 against an Oxford University side featuring the Nawab of Pataudi, but Denis Moore (206) and Wally Hammond (211 not out) took full advantage. Leicestershire were able to save the match, reaching 304 for five when the game ended as a draw.