Rory Burns’ Surrey created history in 2024, becoming the first team since 1968 to win three successive County Championship titles
Having got off to a good start, the Three Feathers maintained their tempo and consolidated their lead at the top before the County Championship broke for the Hundred and One Day Cup.
Smith masterclass & Roach hunts Bears again
SURREY V WARWICKSHIRE – MAY 10 – 13: SURREY WON BY 9 WICKETS
Jamie Smith’s first century of the campaign was the centrepiece of Surrey’s victory, which required just 39 minutes of the final morning.
Ed Barnard’s 108 had rescued Warwickshire’s first innings, a comfortable start wrecked by Jordan Clark’s breakthrough – he was the outstanding bowler on the first day – and slipping to 167-7 until Barnard’s fine innings. He was 96no overnight, hitting nine fours overall.
Rory Burns and Dom Sibley produced another excellent opening partnership, Ollie Pope and then Ben Foakes helping Smith guide Surrey into a strong position at 308-4. A burst of three wickets in as many overs with the second new ball from Craig Miles late in the day suddenly changed things. But the seamer damaged his ankle celebrating the third wicket – nightwatch Kemar Roach – and put himself out of the match, although at 349-8 the lead was still slender.
Needing two runs to complete his century at the start, the assured Smith gained an ideal partner in Sean Abbott as the Australian proved how valuable an all-round force he is in his first appearance of the summer. The pair transformed Surrey’s position and harvested full batting points by adding 115 in 18 electrifying overs, their partnership removing Douglas Jardine and Ted Brooks – at Edgbaston 98 years earlier – from the record books for matches between the two counties. Smith cracked 18 fours and three sixes in his 179 balls at the crease.
Now Warwickshire, with a large contingent of left-handers, found Roach back to his best, reviving memories of his matchwinning burst two years earlier. Barnard again proved the greatest obstacle but fell to an acrobatic return catch from Abbott, and with Miles unable to bat the visitors could only leave Surrey a target of 89 for victory.
They were 31-0 overnight and despite losing Burns were done and dusted in time for a leisurely lunch.
Wizard Worrall takes 10 as Surrey see off Worcestershire
Surrey v Worcestershire – May 17-19: Surrey won by 281 runs
Three home games in succession were an opportunity for Surrey to ignite the hat-trick bid but at 15-4 on the opening morning, with Joe Leach relishing a verdant pitch, they were in trouble.
A stand of 148 between Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence, the latter in particularly aggressive mood, righted the ship although once they departed it took Jordan Clark’s typically enterprising innings to push the hosts past 200 as they failed to collect any batting points.
Dan Worrall proved a formidable proposition, beheading the reply, two late strikes from Kemar Roach leaving Worcestershire rocking at 112-7 by the day’s end before Worrall polished them off the next morning by collecting three wickets in five balls.
Rory Burns set about extending an unexpectedly large lead before becoming one of four wickets in eight overs during the afternoon session in a match which was already heading off at unexpected tangents.
Jamie Smith’s polished innings and Lawrence’s second valuable contribution of the match reasserted Surrey’s supremacy while Clark was in destructive mood once again to give the hosts an unassailable advantage going into the third day, Sean Abbott smashing two fours and two sixes in his cameo.
Worrall wasted little time in completing a 10-wicket haul – and there were nine catches for the excellent Ben Foakes behind the stumps – as Worcestershire threatened to melt away at 102-8 on the third afternoon.
Nathan Smith and Ben Gibbon took an aggressive approach to stretch the match beyond tea, adding 71. Called upon to wrap up the match, Lawrence’s first over disappeared for 18, Smith twice clearing the boundary but finding Roach just inside it in the off-spinner’s second. Gibbon struck three sixes off his third, reaching a maiden half-century, and 58 had been entertainingly added for the 10th wicket – a Worcestershire record against Surrey – before Lawrence returned to provoke another catch in the deep.
First defeat of the season
Hampshire v Surrey – May 24-27: Hampshire won by an innings and 278 runs
Surrey’s unbeaten run was wrecked by a record defeat at the Utilita Bowl.
A used pitch gave immediate clues that Hampshire intended to spin their way to victory and the arrival of Liam Dawson into the attack in the 10th over yielded instant results, Dom Sibley offering a return catch from the fourth delivery.
The visitors were 89-4 by lunch but suffered a collapse at the hands of former South Africa Test seamer Kyle Abbott, who claimed five wickets in a 34-ball burst.
Hampshire confirmed that scoring was not easy by grinding their way to 102-1 from 47 overs by the close, Surrey hit by the loss of wicketkeeper Ben Foakes to a back spasm but Jamie Smith deputising as ably as ever.
The hosts were in no mood to let their position slip on day two, Toby Albert – making his maiden Championship century – and Nick Gubbins setting a new second wicket stand for Hampshire against Surrey of 201. Albert’s 114, which took up 366 minutes, was finally ended by Sean Abbott, Gubbins’s’ 103 – occupying 227 deliveries – reviving memories of his prolific form in London derbies for Middlesex.
James Vince’s half-century maintained the pressure while Ben Brown needed just one run for his century when the day ended at 495-4 while Dawson was on 74no.
The wicketkeeper needed one ball to reach three-figures – the 14th time Hampshire had three centurions in their history – and led an all out attack to maximise the advantage, adding a hefty 183 with Dawson.
When Vince finally declared at 608-6, it was his county’s 13th largest total and Surrey could only hope their miraculous escape from defeat at the ground in 2021 would happen again.
They had 172 overs to see out but when Rory Burns departed in the 17th it marked the start of a slide towards defeat. While Dawson was steadiness personified at one end, off-spinner Felix Organ profited at the other, claiming five wickets. Lawrence, after his marathon bowling spell, attacked keenly before perishing while Foakes underlined his dedication by facing up to 107 balls and remaining unbeaten despite restricted movement. At the other end, last man Worrall took the opportunity to land some meaty blows, hitting seven fours and two sixes before his departure ended three highly forgettable days for Surrey.
Lawrence wreaks havoc as Surrey secure double over Worcestershire
Worcestershire v Surrey – June 23- 26: Surrey won by an innings and 5 runs
A month – occupied by the Vitality Blast early matches – had passed since the heavy defeat in Southampton and Surrey were keen to resume normal service.
Just one day of Championship cricket had been possible had New Road, following the winter floods and wet start to the season, Worcestershire also suffering an acute injury crisis. Their ranks were boosted, though, by the arrival on loan from Somerset of Shoaib Bashir, making his county debut alongside Ethan Brookes and Tom Taylor. The latter’s brother, James, made his first-class comeback for Surrey after two years marred by stress fractures.
Although Taylor snr struck almost immediately and on-loan Ben Allison would soon remove Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley was in reassuringly good form to blunt the makeshift attack, giving Jamie Smith the ideal platform to play another commanding knock. And after they fell within five overs, Ben Foakes played the anchor role for Dan Lawrence to move within nine runs of a century by the end of the day, reached on 340-5.
Lawrence grabbed centre stage by pounding Bashir for five successive sixes, the frazzled England off-spinner then delivering five wides before a single off the final ball of the over, the joint most expensive (at the time) in the history of English first-class cricket.
Although missing out on two batting points, Surrey achieved their objective of a commanding total, Lawrence’s innings beating the 161 made against Surrey in 2015 to become the best of his career.
The value of it was underlined when Worcestershire staggered to 147-7 by the close and although tail-end resistance delayed the end, Taylor jnr’s comeback had earned three wickets alongside Lawrence’s treble to ensure the follow-on before lunch.
This time Worcestershire summoned greater fight, Gareth Roderick and Kashif Ali – despite a fierce blow on the hand from Gus Atkinson – adding 135 in 34 overs. Three wickets in as many overs, two of them to Jordan Clark, radically changed the picture, Worcestershire relying on Adam Hose to thwart the visitors’ attack until he was last out with parity almost within sight, appropriately removed by the persevering Clark.
🚨 DAN LAWRENCE, TAKE A BOW 🚨
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) June 24, 2024
Mind-blowing ball striking! 6⃣6⃣6⃣6⃣6⃣🚀
🤎 | #SurreyCricket https://t.co/t3Zr0o31a6 pic.twitter.com/MXubYByfYH
A decisive victory in the top-of-the-table clash
Surrey v Essex – June 30-July 3: Surrey won by 145 runs
A tale of two England hopefuls dominated day one of this key match, the Kia Oval’s “festival of red ball cricket” which attracted 6,311 on the opening day and 13,706 overall – a 21st-century record on both counts.
Called up for his Test debut that morning, Jamie Smith made his second century of the season, an innings of authority punctuated by 14 fours and two sixes. Surrey would have been struggling without it, support proving light on a rain-shortened day and Essex’s attack – missing Simon Cook but with South African seamer Eathan Bosch claiming three wickets – keeping them in check.
The visitors had seen the in-form Jordan Cox go off the field during the day feeling unwell and he needed his appendix to be removed overnight, leaving them with 10 men for the rest of the match. Surrey were able to claim one batting point on the second morning before their bowlers got to work, Dan Worrall again in the vanguard and well backed up. Resistance came from Matt Critchley’s forceful riposte and Paul Walter reduced the deficit to a still substantial 81 before Jordan Clark finished them off.
Smith’s classy 70 – his final contribution to Surrey’s title charge before England commitments took over – might ordinarily have been the highlight of a third day in which 35 overs were lost to rain and bad light over several frustrating breaks in play. Even with his contribution – adding 45 with Indian left-hander Sai Sudharsan on his brief return – Surrey were teetering on a crisis at 127-6. Ryan Patel showed patience, much has he had done waiting through much of the season for an opportunity, in a valuable partnership with Jordan Clark, before the loss of two quick wickets, Jamie Porter claiming his 500th first-class wicket, prompted a change of gear.
Now Patel cracked Shane Snater for two sixes through the legside and cracked off-spinner Simon Harmer into the Bedser Stand, the 14th of his 15 fours a stunning straight drive off leg-spinner Matt Critchley which completed his fourth first-class century, to the delight of the crowd.
In all he ensured 85 runs were harvested for the final two wickets before being last out and greeted with the warmest of ovations.
It left Essex needing an unlikely 361 to win in just over a day, Clark striking twice before the end at 21-2.
Only 13 balls were possible in the morning session before more rain prompted an early lunch, Dean Elgar’s typically industrious innings combining with skipper Tom Westley to put on 69. Tom Lawes, having looked understandably rusty in the first innings after more than two months out injured, relished his opportunity to swing the match one last time, having both Westley and Critchley taken by diving efforts from Ben Foakes in successive balls.
Worrall returned to tempt Elgar into pulling a catch into the deep and then Lawes struck two more key blows as Pepper was held at second slip and Walter had his leg-stump uprooted.
Surrey won with 25 overs remaining to claim what Rory Burns felt was the decisive victory of their march to a third Championship.
