Surrey wrap up 21st county championship title with game to spare by thrashing Yorkshire

Surrey coach Gareth Batty praised his side after they won the provincial championship with one round remaining – then warned that a 10-match competition suggested by Andrew Strauss’ performance rating would diminish ‘the emotion’ of victory.

Surrey capped off their 21st title with a 10-wicket thrashing of Yorkshire after learning half an hour earlier that Hampshire – their only rivals for the crown – had lost to Kent. The trophy will be handed over next week in Manchester, where Surrey’s last game, against Lancashire, will now be a lap of honour.

This was their eighth win out of 13, and while Hampshire has won nine, they have also suffered three defeats to Surrey’s none. Unlike Surrey, Hampshire has not lost a stream of players to England.

Rory Burns celebrates with Ryan Patel after taking Surrey to the 55 win goal. has lead

The winning runs were rightly taken by captain Rory Burns, who has put his winter disappointments with England behind him to give the club the highest score with 763 runs – one of eight Surrey players to have averaged 40 or more with the bat this season. had at least five games.

Batty described Burns’ ever-present presence as “gold” and called sailor Dan Worrall – the Australian who has honed his game on the merciless fields of Adelaide – “probably the best asset I’ve ever seen in county cricket.”

With one match to go, Worrall has 39 wickets at 24, including four more here, as Yorkshire fell from their 89 for two to 208 all-out overnight. Burns and Ryan Patel then took just six overs to beat a 55-goal, giving Surrey their first title since 2018 and kicking off a celebration on a site temporarily renamed in honor of Micky Stewart, their 90-year-old former captain.

But on the day Strauss’ review suggested a top league of six teams, reduced by four games to 10 per side, Batty sounded a warning.

“I think it would lessen the emotion a little bit, because it’s been built up for so long,” he said. “We have to be careful not to lose too many games. After all, county cricket is here to serve a team from England. But I just hope we’re doing it for the greater good of the game, not to keep celebrities alive in cricket.”

Burns was equally lukewarm about the prospect of a truncated red-ball season. “Personally I think it would be too short and there wouldn’t be enough matches to get an honest result,” he said. “I agree it needs to be looked at, but 10 isn’t enough.”

Yorkshire, meanwhile, must not slip against Gloucestershire at the bottom of the table next week if they want to avoid being dragged into a relegation scrap.