Surrey secure 21st County Championship title with game to spare

Surrey secured their 21st County Championship title after thrashing Yorkshire by 10 wickets inside three days at The Oval.

Surrey’s emphatic home win – and title rivals Hampshire’s shock defeat to Kent – saw the south London side become county champions for the first time since 2018.

Gareth Batty’s side have won eight of their 13 completed red-ball matches this summer, with the other five ending in draws.

Unbeaten Surrey face Lancashire at Old Trafford next week where they will receive the County Championship trophy.

Surrey and England batter Ollie Pope said: ‘This is as special as it gets. The County Championship season is a seriously long season and you put in a lot of hard work.’

Ollie Pope scored a stunning century as Surrey chased a title-clinching victory against Yorkshire as the home side made 333 after being inserted.

England’s No. 3 – who finished on 136 from 131 balls – found support from Jordan Clark (55) and Ryan Patel (41).

Tom Lawes then took four wickets as Yorkshire stumbled to 179 all out, a deficit of 154.

Having avoided the follow-on, Yorkshire were asked to bat again and improved slightly on their first-innings effort to make 208, with former England players Adam Lyth and Dom Bess scoring 46 and 43 respectively.

That left Surrey needing just 55 to win the match and clinch their third County Championship title of the 21st century, which they did with the loss of no wickets, with captain Rory Burns hitting the winning runs.

Pope added: ‘The work starts in April and the number of days of cricket you play all leads into days like this. To get over the line is very special.

‘It was very special [to score 136]. It was a nice way to finish but I would have happily taken two ducks if it meant we won this game.’

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