Surrey have been crowned the winners of Division One of the 2023 County Championship, sealing their second title in as many years before the end of the final round of competition.

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The defending champions went into the final round almost certain of victory at the top of the table. Their only possible rival for the trophy was Essex, who faced Northants away from home. Essex needed to pick up bonus points as well as win their match in order to have any chance of knocking Surrey off the top spot.

After Surrey were bowled out for less than 250 by Hampshire in their first innings at the Ageas Bowl, Essex needed to score at least 400 runs in the first 110 overs of their innings to secure enough bonus points to stay in the race. Their hopes of doing that were dented on day two when they were reduced to 125-4 at the close of play.

This morning (September 28), they collapsed to 211 all-out. That meant Surrey were secure as champions, with Essex no longer having enough points available to them to overtake Surrey’s tally. Essex were then bowled out for 119 after being asked to follow on, a 73 from Paul Walter the only contribution in excess of 11.

Surrey were informed of the news as while they were in the midst of their second bowling innings at the Ageas Bowl. The announcement that they were County Champions came over the tannoy speaker as Will Jacks was about to bowl to Nick Gubbins.

Surrey won eight of their 13 matches this season, drawing four and losing one. They will conclude their campaign tomorrow on the final day against Hampshire, where they need 73 runs to win with four wickets remaining overnight.

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