Surrey close in third consecutive County Championship title

Surrey’s ten-wicket victory over Durham places them on the verge of clinching a third consecutive County Championship title.

If Somerset’s last four wickets fail to add another 189 at Old Trafford today (Friday), the Oval outfit will become the first county since Yorkshire, in 1968, to successfully defend their title two years running – a feat that was even beyond the great Surrey side led by Adam Hollioake, who masterminded three championships out of four between 1999 and 2002.

But it’s fair to say it has been a rollercoaster of a week for Surrey, after losing away to their nearest challengers Somerset, who then ended the South Londoners’ hopes of glory in the T20 Blast by knocking them out in the semis.

The message from the wise heads of Alec Stewart and Gareth Batty, Surrey’s director of cricket and head coach, was to park it and move on.

“It was a really tough week last week – losing at Taunton and losing at Finals Day after such a good T20 season,” said Sam Curran, who took 4-23 to help seal a convincing three-day victory over Durham.

“It’s frustrating, but the character showed this week, guys bouncing back, forgetting about it – that shows why we’re such a good team.

“Batts [Gareth Batty] is very big about focusing on ourselves, but I’d be lying if I said the guys won’t be glued to the stream from Old Trafford. Hopefully, Lancashire can get a victory and stay up as well.

“But even if they don’t, we will go to Essex next week looking to win. We’re a proud club and a proud group of players, so, whatever happens, we’ll going down to Chelmsford with the aim of winning.”

Even against a weakened Durham bowling attack, it took a career best 134 from Ryan Patel to turn being 169-5 into 415 all out, which left the Riverside outfit needing 153 to make Surrey bat again.

“I was really pleased for Ryan,” said Sam Curran. “He and I played a lot of age group cricket together and he’s now made that number three spot his own.

“He works really hard on his game and in a crunch game like this to go and get that hundred says a lot about his character.”

Curran junior and Dan Worrall (4-39 and 4-34) then went to work with the ball to roll Durham over for 177 at the second time of asking.

“We’ve got an amazing bowling department,” said Sam. “I thought Dan was magnificent, not just in this match, but throughout the season. He’s a top bowler and an amazing guy. He runs in all day. He’s been fantastic over the last three years, as has Jordan Clark.”

Due to the Currans’ international, Hundred and T20 franchise commitments, it was also great to see Sam and brother Tom back, working in tandem in the County Championship for the first time in seven years.

“I always enjoy coming back. I feel very at home at Surrey,” said Sam. “We were trying to work out how long it’s been since we last played together in the Champo. But it was nice looking up at the board and seeing T. Curran and S. Curran going at both ends!”