Key events
George Hill has had Emilio Gay caught behind by Jonny Bairstow at Headingley. Ben McKinney is having his mettle tested at first drop, no run from his first nine balls and fifteen minutes at the crease.
We roll towards lunch on this final day, this message from CricketBalladeer below the line is lovely and will keep the Guardian’s bean counters happy I’m sure. Congratulations!
“Morning James, morning everybody. Durham don’t deserve to stay up. I’m not sure Yorkshire do either. But it is all very funny.
A little bit of personal news: by the time the new season rolls around we will have a new convert-in-waiting to the world of the County Championship. My firstborn’s due in mid-November. Given that I hated sport as a youngun and suspect he might take after me, suggestions for getting him into cricket are welcome.
I’m entertaining his future grandparents today so not sure how much I’ll be around, although I’ll at least check the replies to this after the fact – so I’ll say as usual how grateful I am to everyone who makes this place what it is, including Tanya, James, all of the regulars, and even the Guardian itself. Lovely folk. Roll on April! (When he’ll be five months old yikes)”
Josh Hull has picked up the prize wicket of Saif Zaib to reduce Northants to 189-6. Stuart van der Merwe providing stiff resistance for the home side with 38 off 87 balls and counting but Leicestershire are well on their way to sealing an emphatic win with a notional 301 more runs needed. Ahem.
Saif Zaib falls for 58, thus ending an extraordinary individual season. Nine career hundreds, six of which have come this summer: 1,425 runs, almost double any of his teammates and deserving of much more than second-bottom in Division Two. https://t.co/6114mbWw4y
— Nick Friend (@NickFriend1) September 27, 2025
Ay up – my spies tell me Yorkshire have managed to get the ball changed at Headingley, maybe this one will hoop around corners… concentrate Durham fans, concentrate!
Charlie Allison then backs away and smears Jake Ball back over his head and out of the ground for six to seal the win!
RESULT: Essex beat Somerset by 7 wickets
Lewis Gregory has a rueful grin on his face as he keeps Matt Critchley tied down for five balls with Essex needing just two more to seal the win. A huge appeal follows off the final ball but it was sliding down. Essex made to wait a few moments longer…
“Good morning, James; good morning, all. Congratulations to Rosy and the Aldreds. Graduation is always a lovely day and as staff we love seeing the students and their parents celebrating.
Thank to Tanya and all her deputies for another splendid season on the blog and, of course, to all the BTL-ers, even Brian.
And finally, I sentence I thought I’d never type. Thank you Surrey for making this day slighty less nervy. I am now torn between wanting to see Durham draw and send Hampshire down because that would be poetic justice and wanting to see Yorkshire win as a tribute to Dickie Bird and because SonoftheDesert would be happy in the party division.
Cricket is so confusing at times.”
Enjoyed this one from BTL, Yes I do have my beady eye on proceedings down there!
Lees and Gay are watchful at Headingley, nothing daft and they get this done for Durham. But, y’know, cricket etc.
Darkening clouds in Chelmsford with Walters, Elgar and Captain Westley back in the Essex hutch but they only need 15 more runs… But, y’know, cricket etc.
You might have seen but the comments are now up and running – get stuck in!
“Morning James”
Hello to you Brian Withington.
“Your namesake did not look too chuffed with that decision that has effectively ushered Hampshire to the door marked “Going Down”.
Can we now expect Yorkshire and Durham to play out their version of the infamous West Germany vs Austria “Disgrace of Gijon” in 1982?”
I think James Fuller was just truly gutted at getting out and what that meant rather than it being any sign of disagreement with the decision. I saw it live though (on the stream) and haven’t seen the replay so can’t confirm the existence of the nick.
Always happy to stand corrected (said the man in the orthopaedic shoes.
No comment on Headingley/Gijon Brian… I couldn’t possibly bring the Guardian into matters of such disrepute.
Elsewhere, Essex are closing in on victory against Somerset, they need another 40 runs and have eight wickets in hand, Paul Walter is unbeaten on 29 and has the bit between his teeth.
That win on the South Coast sees Surrey confirmed in the second spot behind Nottinghamshire.
I flick on the stream from Headingley to see Alex Lees rapped on the pads by Matt Milnes, nervy times for the North Easterners. Lees is not out, it was heading down leg, he then clips off the same pads for a single. It’s all about not losing this match now for Durham, if wickets start to tumble it really will by squeaky derrière time.
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.
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…
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.
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.”
