County Championship finale: Warwickshire beat Somerset to seal first title since 2012

Warwickshire (367 and 294-3 dec) beat Somerset (389 and 154) by 118 runs

The championship season boiled down to the last session of the last day of the last match with Warwickshire captain Will Rhodes grabbing the catch at gully that landed his team their first title for nine years.

The autumnal sun bathed Edgbaston as Warwickshire bowled out Somerset for 154 in 52 overs to break Lancashire hearts after their nail-biting win on Thursday put them top of the table for 24 hours.

Warwickshire had to win to land the title and declared just an hour before lunch, setting Somerset 273 in 79 overs, dangling the carrot just enough for them to have a sniff. Chris Woakes showed his international class with three for 39 knocking over the crucial wicket of Azhar Ali, Craig Miles removed the Somerset middle order with three for 26. Cries of “You Bears” began to ring out when Liam Norwell took the championship-winning wicket when Somerset’s last man, Jack Brooks, edged to Rhodes with 27 overs left in the game.

“You always dream about taking the winning catch to win a championship and I was very fortunate to do that,” said Rhodes. “Seeing the elation and pure joy and relief of getting over the line on everyone’s faces, and seeing the members as well, was absolutely amazing. Winning the championship is the pinnacle of every domestic player’s career. Bressy (Tim Bresnan) has won an Ashes and Woakesy a World Cup but to with the championship is what you play the game for and why you do your winter laps in November.”

It summed up Warwickshire’s team spirit, which has carried them through a marathon season that started on April 8 and a topsy turvy final week when the destiny of the title swapped hands between three counties, that Rhodes gave away the match ball to Danny Briggs’ young son. “He has come to a lot of games and tried to get on the outfield at every opportunity so I gave it to him,” he said. Nice touch.

No batsman has scored more than a 1,000 runs and no bowler taken 50 wickets. This has been a team effort from Warwickshire, who by their own admission are not the most talented side in the country. But they beat Nottinghamshire when Stuart Broad kicked his heels and his tail up earlier in the season and also defeated Essex and Somerset, the best two championship teams in recent years. This was their fourth win in the final session of day four, showing their ability to hang in.

They won this week not by producing a result pitch, but a surface that made bowlers work hard for their wickets. In Rob Yates they have a 22-year-old opener who will surely go on the England Lions tour this winter, with his superb 132 on Friday his fourth century of the season and laid the platform for the early declaration that gave Warwickshire enough time to force the win. Captain Rhodes played his part too with a lively half century.

This is Warwickshire’s eighth title and first since 2012 and has arrived earlier than planned for director of cricket, Paul Farbrace, who has rebuilt the club since joining from England two years ago. Warwickshire failed to win a match in the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy and only three games in 2019. A review led to Farbrace replacing Jim Troughton as head coach for the experienced Mark Robinson, who won two championship titles at Sussex before leading England Women to the World Cup in 2017.

They have recruited well bringing in Bresnan last year when many thought his career was over, and his experience and will to win has been crucial in important games this summer, and also gave Briggs the chance to shelve his white ball specialist image. Briggs has given them consistency as the lead spinner and made the first breakthrough, removing Somerset’s dangerous opener Tom Lammonby just before lunch.

In what has been a miserable week for English cricket following the pullout from Pakistan and the failure to properly explain that decision, the county championship finale has come along at the right time. Lancashire and Hampshire’s ding dong battle in Liverpool was riveting, while Warwickshire and Somerset have scrapped every inch of the way over four days. Somerset, with very little to play for beyond a few thousands pounds of extra prize money, made Warwickshire work hard, denying them a crucial bowling bonus point that left them needing Lancashire to beat Hampshire, but ultimately ran out of steam under pressure from some relentless seam bowling led by Woakes and Bresnan.

Bresnan bowled a superb, accurate spell of one for 16 in his first nine overs, while Woakes gave nothing away, the pressure inducing mistakes.

Somerset were 32 for one at lunch but lost six for 70 in the afternoon; the innings turned and belief coursed through Warwickshire once they claimed the crucial wicket of Azhar Ali.

Ben Green was caught down the leg side off Bresnan before Azhar steered a catch to slip off Woakes. Tom Abell was caught at gully after being tied down for 20 balls without getting off the mark.

Miles had Lewis Goldsworthy caught at second slip, Norwell yorked Steve Davies and Woakes bowled Craig Overton with the ball of the day that pitched on middle and leg and hit off stump.

At 102 for seven at tea, Somerset were sinking. Woakes bowled Jack Leach between bat and pad with his first ball of the final session, Lewis Gregory hung around for 56 balls before swishing at a wide ball from MIles and it was all over when Brooks edged Norwell to gully.

Warwickshire now play Lancashire in a five day game at Lord’s from Tuesday for the Bob Willis Trophy but the title, the prize that matters, was won here.

Lancashire (141 and 198-9) beat Hampshire (143 and 193) by one wicket

In the most heart-stopping finish Lancashire beat Hampshire by one wicket and will win their ninth outright championship barring a Warwickshire victory over Somerset.

Provided Warwickshire do not win - and Somerset will not be inclined to indulge in contrivances after being the victims of one when Middlesex won the title in 2016 - Lancashire will be champions, by a whisker.

It boiled down to Lancashire chasing 196 to win after their last three wickets had been wrapped up by Hampshire. By then it was apparent that Somerset’s lower order were hanging on doggedly at Edgbaston, and well capable of a draw, in which case this match was turned into a winner-takes-all.

At first the run-chase resembled an afternoon stroll beside the Mersey. Alex Davies was bent on a forthright statement in his last game for Lancashire before leaving for Warwickshire and Lancashire breezed past 50 without loss. Both Davies and the highly promising all-rounder George Balderson were missed, but Hampshire’s most important drop came when Dane Vilas edged a catch to the keeper - Lewis McManus deputising for the injured Tom Alsop - before Lancashire’s captain had scored.

A second trick that Hampshire will rue missing was not bringing on their leg-spinner Mason Crane until the 36th over, whereupon he immediately dismissed Josh Bohannon, but by then Lancashire had reached 112 - only 84 to win. Matt Parkinson had already taken four cheap wickets with his legspin for Lancashire, while Keith Barker and Mohammad Abbas, who have shouldered Hampshire’s attack since Kyle Abbott’s injury, were inevitably flagging. Crane should not have been the last throw of the dice.

Vilas, having been reprieved before scoring, and a veteran who could have played a lot more for South Africa, was soon forced into a captain’s innings. Steven Croft planted his front pad and played across the line; Luke Wood frantically tried to hit almost every ball; while Crane’s three other wickets were classic dismissals from leg-breaks edged to first or second slip.

It was at 187 for six, with only nine to win, that Lancashire embarked on a final attempt to let Hampshire overtake them. Wood went, bat-pad. Tom Bailey, who had earlier taken seven wickets with his unrelenting accuracy, decided on a single which surprised Vilas but not Crane, who brilliantly hit the stumps from cover.

Still three to win, whereupon Jack Blatherwick chose to take a single off the last ball of Liam Dawson’s over, a sound decision only if he was an expert in facing leg-spin as well as a young fast bowler. Lancashire now needed only two to win (a tie would not have won them the title), but Blatherwick was exposed to Crane’s next over. Vilas, manifestly, should have turned down the single and kept the strike. Sure enough Blatherwick edged to second slip.

Parkinson, a natural number eleven, had the last two balls of Crane’s over to face. Two runs for Lancashire, in effect perhaps, to win the championship; for Hampshire one wicket. Parkinson was completely beaten by the first ball and smiled nervously at his captain. To the second ball, to 3,000 roars of approval, he middled his defensive push.

Vilas swept Dawson for a four that was roared all the way to the boundary, removed his helmet as a classical warrior should to shake his opponents by the hand, before embracing his troops. Vilas did not tempt fate either by speaking too soon about winning the title.

“To put ourselves in a position where we could potentially win the County Championship is massive and you don't get these opportunities that often as players,” Vilas said. “I'm privileged and honoured that I could be there to get us over the line.

For the neutral supporter the finest feature was two young English leg-spinners shaping as red-ball match-winners. Lancashire’s strength has been their solid in-depth batting and their battery of seamers led by Bailey, spiced by Parkinson’s 36 wickets at only 20 each.

Warwickshire (367 and 179-1) lead Somerset (389) by 157 runs

Warwickshire are one powerful day’s cricket away from lifting the LV= Insurance County Championship title after a strong fightback against Somerset on the third day at Edgbaston yesterday.

Lancashire’s win over Hampshire at Liverpool has left Warwickshire needing victory over Somerset to bring the title to Edgbaston for the eighth time in the club’s history.

But that will not be easy for Will Rhodes’ side on an excellent batting pitch. They closed the third day on 179 for one, 157 ahead, so need to press on briskly with the bat on day four to give themselves time to try to take 10 wickets on a batter-friendly surface.

The title-chasers spent the first two sessions of the third day in the dirt as Somerset, replying to 367, forged on from their overnight 239 for five to reach 389.

The visitors’ head coach, Jason Kerr, had said the previous evening that “whoever wins the title is going to have to earn it” and his players’ resolve matched his words.

Steven Davies (52) fell in the second over when he edged Tim Bresnan to Michael Burgess. Bresnan then struck again when he trapped Craig Overton lbw, after a two-run, 43-minute stay.

Somerset’s batting has not overachieved of late but this time they delivered some important partnerships. After Davies and Lewis Gregory (68) added 60, Gregory and Jack Leach (49) put on 54 and Leach and Josh Davey added 56. On an unforgiving pitch, there was little the depleted Warwickshire attack – without the injured Olly Stone, Olly Hannon-Dalby and Henry Brookes – could do but persevere.

The indefatigable Bresnan was the pick, finishing with three for 35, supported by Danny Briggs (three for 77) and Chris Woakes (three for 100).

Trailing by 22, Warwickshire had a session to regain the initiative and fully seized the opportunity. Rob Yates (72 not out) and Dom Sibley (50) batted enterprisingly to add 119 in 28 overs and Rhodes added late impetus with 42 in 29 balls.
Together, the trio supplied their side with a springboard to a potential victory and Championship title on the final day.

Day two - Danny Briggs' quickfire fifty keeps Warwickshire in hunt for title

By Nick Hoult at Edgbaston

Somerset 239/5 trail Warwickshire 367 by 128 runs

Warwickshire are masters of their own destiny thanks to Danny Briggs who may well have scuppered the title chances of his home county Hampshire.

Briggs, born on the Isle of Wight, left Hampshire in 2015 for Sussex before joining Warwickshire last winter when they promised him a regular first team place in the Championship side and a chance to shake off his reputation of being a white-ball specialist.

It has proved a canny signing and he kept Warwickshire alive with two wickets and a crucial fifty from 30 balls that earned his side a vital fourth batting point. Warwickshire started day two needing 67 from 14 overs with five wickets in hand to reach 350 in 110 overs to bring up a fourth batting point that would close the deficit with top of the table Hampshire.

But a rush of blood and a collapse of five for 35 left Warwickshire wobbling. They needed 11 with their last pair at the crease off the 110th over. Briggs hammered Jack Brooks for four, four and a six to make Warwickshire’s target simple.

If they take maximum bowling points by dismissing Somerset within 110 overs and go on to win then they will be champions, regardless of what happens in Liverpool between Lancashire and Hampshire.

Briggs, who was presented his Warwickshire cap before the start of play by England director Ashley Giles, followed his unbeaten 53 by removing the dangerous Tom Lammonby for 59 when he snaffled a sharp caught and bowled, and had Lewis Goldsworthy caught at mid on to finish with a tidy two for 40 as Somerset closed on 239-5.

Azhar Ali got himself going with a six off Chris Woakes and looked in good touch before Tim Bresnan lured him into playing at a ball wide of off stump to edge a catch to first slip for 60; Azhar swished his bat angrily as he walked off. The pitch is flat and the second new ball is three overs away.

A burst with it on Wednesday morning from Woakes will go a long way to deciding if Warwickshire can win and land their first title since 2012.

Low-scoring clash between title hopefuls Lancashire and Hampshire still in the balance

By Scyld Berry at Aigburth

Hampshire 143 and 158/7 lead Lancashire 141 by 160 runs

If Warwickshire slip up in any way over the last two days of this Championship season, the winners of this low-scoring dogfight can take the title, and it is precariously balanced between Hampshire - 160 ahead with three wickets left - and Lancashire.

It is in Lancashire’s favour that Hampshire will have to start the batting on the third morning, at 10.30am, when the ball is darting around, whether the Mersey tide is in or out. Batting should be easier by the time Lancashire start their chase, but they will have to make the highest score of this game.

For the first hour of the second morning, while Warwickshire collapsed at Edgbaston, both of these counties could nourish higher ambitions, until Danny Briggs took the Bears to 350, a body-blow to his original county, Hampshire.

Had Warwickshire fallen short of that total in 110 overs, Hampshire could have won the title by half a point simply by virtue of winning this game.

Not that Hampshire’s players could pay much attention to proceedings elsewhere, because they had to keep their eyes peeled for outside edges off every ball delivered by Mohammad Abbas and Keith Barker.

Barker was left-arm round the wicket in the main to right-handers, while Abbas darted it both ways on an unwavering length and using wobble-seam, according to Tom Bailey, one of the Lancashire lower order who smacked enough runs to keep Hampshire’s lead down to two, before taking a five-wicket haul.

Three wickets down overnight, Lancashire were soon 47 for seven against Barker, who finished with four wickets, and Abbas, who prostrated his forehead to the turf after his five. They left Lancashire with no chance of reaching 300, which they needed to overtake Warwickshire on bonus points in addition to winning this match.

It has been a game even more dominated by the new ball than most this month: hence Hampshire’s decision to send Mason Crane in to open their second innings, to buy a little time, and it worked to an extent, in that Vince and the pugnacious Liam Dawson added 80 when the ball aged, before both were dismissed shorty before the close.

Vince sometimes took a pace towards the ball, until Alex Davies stood up, then stood tall to force the ball either side of point when the bowler dropped short. The Liverpool crowd - maybe 3,000 - politely applauded when the visiting captain reached his 50, and roared in appreciation when Matt Parkinson wrung a leg-before verdict out of Alex Wharf.

Known for bowling leg-breaks for 98 per cent of his deliveries in white-ball internationals for England, Parkinson has exhibited a wide range here, without losing his length.

Day one - Warwickshire in strong position for title after Dom Sibley half-century

By Nick Hoult

Dom Sibley may have been discarded by England but he could still have a big say on the English domestic season after a gutsy half-century kept Warwickshire in the title hunt.

Sibley made 56 off 165 balls, settling his side down after they were three for one, and laying a platform for others to lead Warwickshire’s charge as they hunted down precious first innings batting bonus-points in their race to the title.

By the close Warwickshire had picked up three batting points at 283-4 with Sam Hain building on Sibley’s work with an attacking unbeaten 83. They have another 14 overs on Wednesday to go past 350 and pick up another batting point that in the final reckoning could decide the championship.

Hampshire started the day three and a half points clear of second placed Warwickshire but they did not take any batting points against Lancashire, who also struggled as wickets fell in Liverpool.

It means that if Warwickshire can pick up their fourth batting point today, take maximum bowling points and beat Somerset they will be champions for the first time since 2012. The only caveat is if Lancashire make 400 and beat Hampshire, but at 25-3 overnight that would be a twist even beyond this unpredictable season of English cricket.

It was a tense hard day of cricket at Edgbaston, that almost boiled over in the final half hour when Craig Overton appeared to mankad Matthew Lamb on 42, having previously warned him, only to withdraw the appeal. It led to loud boos from the small coterie of Warwickshire fans behind the bowler’s arm and painted on smiles on the faces of both teams.

It seemed to get Warwickshire going. Lamb and Sam Hain took on the second new ball and the run rate started to move upwards quickly. Lamb and Hain frustrated Somerset with a 122 run stand for the fourth wicket, capitalising on tired bowlers and attacking the second new ball for 77 runs in 16 overs.

Hain is a fine white ball batsman, averaging nearly 60 in List A cricket, and he paced his side’s march to batting points like a run chase, seeing off the difficult period before expanding his game against the harder ball, hitting Josh Davey for three fours in a row as Warwickshire changed gear.

“First thing for us is to win the game,” said Mark Robinson, Warwickshire’s head coach. “Second is can we get to 350 and win the game as well. If we can get into a position of making 350 then it is in our own hands and that is even better but it is only day one and Somerset are a good side.”

Somerset won the toss and opted to bowl first on a cloudy morning. Rob Yates fell in the third over of the day, caught at slip pushing at Davey, but Sibley and Will Rhodes rebuilt. Sibley scored in spurts, as he did in Test cricket, hitting the odd flurry of fours before retreating back into his shell, while Rhodes played the more aggressively for longer at the other end.

They put on 121 for the second wicket before Rhodes was caught behind off Tom Lammonby following a good spell of pressure by Somerset and Sibley eventually nibbled at one outside off stump. At 139 for three in the 55th over, Warwickshire needed to change pace and in Hain and Lamb they found two players ready to move the game on.

“Dom has been great since he came back to us,” said Robinson. “I have seen lots of players come back from England and they find it hard. Dom has been brilliant working hard in the nets technically and to expand his game a bit. He has been true to himself, he blunts attacks and he is a strong cricketer with a strong mind.”

Hampshire lower-order fights back in low-scoring match

By Scyld Berry

Like two heavyweight boxers, Hampshire and Lancashire look likely to knock each other out, allowing their lighter rival Warwickshire to skip past them to the championship title.

Assuming Warwickshire score 67 runs off their next 14 overs then go on to dismiss Somerset in 110 overs and win the game, Hampshire cannot overtake them. Nor can Lancashire, except if they take five batting bonus points - and reaching 400 in 110 overs from their current position of 25 for three seems impossible - then go on to win.

The answer, as so often, lies in the soil. Both Hampshire and Lancashire needed a high-scoring game to secure lots of batting bonus points, and while Aigburth makes a lovely end-of-season venue near the Mersey, its pitch is not a belter, whereas Warwickshire have been able to dovetail Edgbaston’s turf to their own requirements.

Old Trafford would no doubt have made a higher-scoring venue than Aigburth, but Lancashre’s Test ground is booked for a pop concert on Saturday, for which 50,000 tickets have been sold. That is a lot of revenue for a county which lost its Test match earlier this month.

Hampshire did not secure a single batting point after being sent in to face Lancashire’s five seamers, in addition to Matt Parkinson who winkled out the last three wickets. But they are still in the race, because if Somerset can manage to hold on at Edgbaston - on a batting pitch and with a poorish forecast for Friday - Hampshire could still take their third championship title (after 1961 and 1973) provided they beat Lancashire.

It was a bit like the Oval Test. At one stage Lancashire, as when England bowled first against India, were all over Hampshire, who were 71 for 5, and should have been 94 for eight except that two straightforward slip catches were dropped. At the Oval India’s allrounder Shardul Thakur smashed 50 to give his side a working total; here Mason Crane made half that many, and far more slowly (25 off 101 balls), but the effect was similar.

"A club ground in September is never going to be easy and we identified pretty early on that it wasn't going to be a massive score but we scrapped and fought to the end and the way we bowled at the end was brilliant,” Crane said. “I think the wicket will spin and I'll have a role."

Collectively Lancashire bowled tidily, especially George Balderson, but they did not rattle Crane with bouncers like Brad Wheal did later to Dane Vilas and Josh Bohannon. Crane was eventually dismissed by Parkinson, his northern counterpart, but the innings was another sign that he has matured as a cricketer since his Sydney Test debut four years ago. Overall, Crane may be the better red-ball legspinner while Parkinson is the better white-ball legspinner, but Parkinson offered more variations to his legbreak than usual, so it will be a close contest for the enlarged Ashes squad.

Balderson, 20, is an even longer-term England prospect, one perhaps for the post-Stokes era, whenever that may be. In his first spell he took three wickets with his whippy speed and tight line which made right and left-handers play. In his second spell he should have two more wickets, only both chances were dropped, by Luke Wells at first and Danny Lamb at second. Whereupon the wheel turned slowly, firstly during Crane’s solid blocking then during the opening bursts of Keith Barker and Mohammad Abbas.

It was asking a lot of Balderson to open the innings after bowling 14 overs but he shaped very capably for an hour as a lefthanded opener before Abbas had him caught behind and took Hampshire to parity, if not ahead.