timeThere’s still a page or two left of the cricket season, with three last-day internationals between England and Australia, and the wreckage of the County Championship coming to an end this weekend. It will all be done next Sunday on the stumps eight days before the equinox, although whether weather permits is another question.
The story of the year includes three Tests against a slightly worse-than-expected West Indies side, three Tests against a slightly better Sri Lankan side, four huge wins in a short space of time, and one at Old Trafford. Ford’s game looked as if it might be close and was the only defeat by eight wickets at the Oval.
You may have missed it, but the best red-ball cricket in England this year wasn’t played at Lord’s, Edgbaston, Trent Bridge or any Test ground, but at the Taunton County Ground, when Somerset had beaten Surrey the week before. Today, the Championship has become the soundtrack to England’s season, sometimes so low that its presence is barely noticed. But the game was worth watching, with Somerset’s live broadcast attracting more than 750,000 viewers over four days, more than many games broadcast on pay-TV.
It has all the twists, tensions, breaks and crackles of a great test. Somerset, second in the table and in contention for their first title, were beaten by league leaders Surrey in the final hour of the game. Jack Leach and Archie Vaughan took seven wickets for 14 runs in 18 overs as Somerset won with five minutes remaining. It’s the kind of cricket that makes you stop what you’re doing.
Warne, 18, fresh out of school, is part of an interesting cast that includes 11 international players. Some, like Leach and Ben Foakes, are still trying to prove they deserve to play international cricket again, while others, like Rory Burns, have decided that’s behind them. Shakib Al Hasan is there, playing for Surrey on a one-match deal, and Tom Curran is back from red-ball cricket, especially for this one Contest. He shot an 86 from No. 7 to turn things around until Tom Banton broke his ankle while playing in No. 11 with the team’s lead at just 149.
The rivalry between the two teams is more intense than you might imagine. There were several incidents on the course about a decade ago, and as two of the most successful teams on the tour, they have been at each other’s throats in competition over the past few years. The town-mouse, country-mouse contrast between the clubs is part of that, as is their respective records in the Championship. Curran has been relentlessly attacked by crowds in Somerset for years and did not need much encouragement to turn against them this time. Somerset’s victory seemed to set off a great climax.
This is not the case. Surrey struggled at home to Durham last week, with two teenage fast bowlers in their ranks, while Somerset were a mess away to Lancashire, ultimately The title was sealed in the early hours of Friday, when they lost their last four wickets before taking the teabags out of the pot. Championships, like the game itself, wax and wane. For players, it’s a full-time job, but for others, it only requires your attention occasionally.
With that, Surrey clinched its third consecutive title with a week remaining. They are the first club to win three consecutive league titles since Yorkshire under Brian Close in the late 1960s. Which is suitable. They are the best run club in the country.
They have natural advantages that others don’t have, but they also know how to make the most of them. Although Lancashire chief executive Daniel Gidney has been complaining that England players (and their agents) don’t care about the title, it’s worth noting how many of Surrey’s white-ball internationals played for them when the title was on the line last season Valid for two weeks.
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They may not be one of the great championship teams. There are even some old Surrey teams that you come back to beat on a regular basis.
But the club appears closer than anyone else to figuring out how county cricket should work in the 21st century.
They are part professional team, part player development center, and part community resource. Having money is one thing, knowing what to do with it is another. Some in the county will learn this lesson the hard way when private investment next year reaps a windfall from Top 100 companies.
