| LV= County Championship Division One, The Micky Stewart Oval (day three) |
| Surrey 333: Pope 136, Clark 55; Patterson 4-69 & 55-0: Burns 30* |
| Yorkshire 179: Kohler-Cadmore 55, Tattersall 45*; Lawes 4-31 & 208: Lyth 46, Bess 43; Worrall 4-61 |
| Surrey (22 pts) beat Yorkshire (3 pts) by 10 wickets |
| Match scorecard |
Surrey sealed their 20th outright County Championship title as they beat Yorkshire by 10 wickets inside three days at The Oval.
After bowling out the Tykes for 208, skipper Rory Burns hit 30 in 16 balls as the hosts made the 55 needed to win.
Surrey’s first title since 2018 was made possible by rivals Hampshire losing by 77 runs at home to Kent.
Dan Worrall had earlier finished with 4-61 to help dismiss Yorkshire, who had resumed on 89-2.
Surrey’s triumph, their first trophy under head coach Gareth Batty, was completed with a game to spare as they won for the eighth time this summer in 13 unbeaten red-ball matches.
Yorkshire’s chances of turning the match around suffered an almost immediate blow when Cameron Steel, surprisingly given the first over of the day from the Vauxhall End, bowled Tom Kohler-Cadmore for 11 with a googly.
Adam Lyth resisted for almost an hour before both he and Will Fraine fell in the space of two balls.
Jordan Clark jagged one back off the seam to bowl Fraine before Roach swung one away to remove former England Test opener Lyth for 46, caught at third slip.
Yorkshire skipper Jonny Tattersall then touched a legside lifter from Jamie Overton to keeper Ben Foakes before Worrall angled one that kept a little low into Jordan Thompson’s pads.
England spinner Dom Bess fought hard with 43 from 71 balls, but could only fend off a steeply rising ball from Roach to Foakes.
Worrall then bowled both Ben Mike and former Tykes skipper Steve Patterson to finish off the innings.
With Tattersall taking off his wicketkeeping pads to bowl some leg breaks and improve Yorkshire’s over rate, it then took captain Burns and opening partner Ryan Patel only 36 balls to knock off the runs required – and start the celebrations.
How Surrey won the title?
Analysis – Mark Baldwin, ECB Reporters’ Network
Of the 22 players who have appeared for Surrey in the County Championship this season, 11 are homegrown, who have been nurtured through the county’s age group teams and their academy.
One of those players, 19-year-old seamer Tom Lawes, is top of their Championship bowling averages with 18 wickets at an average of 20.00 from the first five matches he has played in his embryonic career, having taken 4-31 in Yorkshire’s first innings.
Surrey’s triumph has been based on a deep batting order and a relentless fast bowling attack, in which Worrall now has 39 wickets at 24.15, Roach 25 at 24.04, Overton 33 at 24.72 and Clark 30 at 33.86.
Another youthful quick, Gus Atkinson, 24, and like Lawes a product of Surrey’s youth system, has taken 13 wickets in his four appearances and – as in this match – they have often fielded five frontline pace bowlers in their championship XIs.
The long-time Championship leaders beat Hampshire decisively in their only meeting this season, back in mid-April, and are thoroughly deserved winners.
Championship win is ‘very special’ – reaction
Surrey and England batter Ollie Pope on BBC Radio 5 sports extra: “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.
“It 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.
“[After finishing with England] The coaches asked if I fancied playing and left it down to me, but for me there was no question about it. We had to do what we had to do to win the trophy so I made myself available and wanted to put in a contribution to us winning this game.
“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.”
