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Rahul Chahar bowls five dots to James Fuller and then HE GETS HIM! An attempted force off the back foot and a thin edge behind is snaffled by Ben Foakes behind the stumps! Fuller stands rooted to the spot, he’s truly gutted.
Hampshire all out for 160 and they lose to Surrey by 20 runs.
Hampshire’s fate is not totally confirmed yet but in a few hours time it probably will be, a draw is very likely at Headingley which will see Durham cling on to Division One status.
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Final day Gremlins mean no BTL action just yet but bear with us, we know about it and the desk are on the case.
I’m glued to Brad Wheel and James Fuller surviving and chipping away for Hampshire, 21 needed now…
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We’ve got five minutes until play around the grounds… all eyes on Hampshire and Surrey first thing. Just time enough to read Tanya’s piece on victorious Notts before we get into the final knockings.
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Preamble
James Wallace
Hello, good morning and welcome to the final day of the County Championship and hence the Guardian’s county cricket live blog usually so brilliantly helmed by the wonderful Tanya Aldred.
Tanya is enjoying a well earned day off after a long season, well of sorts, she’s at her daughter Rosy’s graduation so congratulations to Rosy and to ma and pa and the whole Aldred clan. Maybe they’ll sneak a surreptitious glance this way in and amongst the mortar board hurling, inspiring speeches and a glass of something fizzy?
I’m sure Rosy is a chip off the old block and won’t really be able to properly think about the future out in the big bad world not to mention the thorny issue of career prospects without knowing whether it was Yorkshire Durham* or Hampshire who avoided the final day drop… speaking of which – here is Tanya’s round up from yesterday to bring you all up to speed:
*Apologies to all Yorkies, I confess I was slightly distracted by a boisterous four year old when tapping out the preamble. The White Rose is safe from dropping its petals – unless some glitch in the universe sees them somehow lose today that it…
Notts revel in title triumph after beating Warwickshire
Nottinghamshire’s season ended with a day to spare, Championship title already secured, 10-wicket victory over Warwickshire in the bag. During the 3.4 overs in the afternoon gloom that they needed to knock off the winning 18 runs, there was time for Ben Slater to become the ninth man in Division One to reach a thousand runs, and for Haseeb Hameed to hit the winning boundary, a one-kneed good-night caress, that zipped across the grass and over the rope.
Minutes later, the club had set up a trestle table in front of the Hound Stand, and members gathered for the presentation. Families mingled everywhere, including Hameed’s proud parents, two sisters, brother-in-law and baby niece, on her first trip to Trent Bridge.
The ECB’s Neil Snowball handed over the medals, Hameed removing his ever-present white floppy hat and taking the trophy to lift with his team. Soon the coaching staff joined the party, head coach Peter Moores wearing a tan jacket over his green hoodie. On closer inspection, the tan jacket had been embroidered in green thread with the initials MOM. “When our first overseas Fergus O’Neill came over, he went and found the jacket in a charity shop, got it dry cleaned, got it sent off and embroidered and presented it at the end of the first match for the moment of the match,” said Moores. The jacket’s recipient was then responsible for awarding it in the next match.
Moores was expecting Josh Tongue, hero of the Oval, to hand the jacket back to Hameed today. But he didn’t, Tongue gave it to Moores. “It was lovely,” said Moores. “I’m not one for big emotion in the dressing room but I was properly made up.”
Tongue, wrapped in cotton wool by England for this game, was back in his whites and wearing his Nottinghamshire cap for the ceremony, towering over his teammates, 31 wickets at 22.03 under his belt. “Words can’t really describe how I’m feeling at the minute,” he said. I’ve always wanted to win a Division One Championship and to win it my first proper year here after missing last season is incredible.
“Taking five wickets in my debut game against Durham sort of proved to the lads why it was worth me coming here. I’ve obviously been in and out of the team with England but coming back it just feels such a special place at the minute.
“It was tough last year and I took myself away from the ground at times and spent time with family but then also I still want to support the lads as well so I still came in.
“I was in a very bad place but Chris Marshall, our sports psychologist, was brilliant during that tough time and a lot of credit for getting me back out there goes to him.
Meanwhile, at Southampton, in a classic county cricket moment, the teams went off for bad light with Hampshire 148 for nine, still 33 short of the victory that would almost definitely keep them in Division One. Set 181 to beat Surrey, they collapsed from 61 for none to 148 for nine, a suitable coda for what has been a miserable couple of weeks. Rahul Chahar, in his first Championship appearance, got stuck into a turning pitch and finished with seven for 45.
Two hundred miles north, fellow relegation candidates Durham and Yorkshire were also off for bad light, and watching events on the live stream. A Hampshire defeat saves Yorkshire’s bacon and leaves Durham needing only a (likely) draw to be safe. A Hampshire victory, means Yorkshire need a draw and Hampshire a longest of long shots win. In the words of Durham coach, Ryan Campbell, “Sleepless nighter! … it’s a funny game. This afternoon, the old cricket gods have handed us a card. Obviously you don’t wish bad on anyone else. But, if you don’t play well in this competition, you get found out.”
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Updated at 11.50 CEST
