Hampshire completed a quite remarkable heist to escape relegation thanks to them beating Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire’s victory over Sussex, who were condemned to the drop alongside Worcestershire. Coming the other way are Surrey, promoted as champions, with Lancashire in second place, after draws at the Kia Oval and Chelmsford.
Michael Carberry wrapped up Hampshire’s win shortly before lunch, but they had to wait three hours for confirmation of Yorkshire’s victory. For much of this season, let alone this game, Hampshire had looked down and out, forcing a change of captain and plenty of rejigging. At Trent Bridge they found themselves 137 behind and eight down in the first innings, then in the second innings they took five wickets for 14 runs to set themselves 200 to win.
Carberry shared 129 with the former captain Jimmy Adams, who chopped Jake Ball on for 70, with new skipper James Vince playing down the wrong line next ball and being bowled. Joined by Will Smith, Carberry got after Samit Patel, taking 23 from nine balls from the England all-rounder to seal victory. The result meant Middlesex – who lost their final game by an innings at Worcester – finished second ahead of Nottinghamshire.
The equation for Sussex was simple: a draw would seal survival. However, after taking the final Yorkshire wicket, they quickly fell to 61 for five. In his final game of professional cricket Mike Yardy shared 81 with Ben Brown, but when they fell in quick succession – the former chased by Yorkshire players offering congratulatory handshakes after nicking Tim Bresnan to first slip – the game was up.
When Adil Rashid trapped Chris Liddle lbw Yorkshire had their 11th win of the season, a record in the era of two divisions, to go with the record number of points (286) in the same period. Remarkably, the gap between first and second place (68), was one point greater than the margin between second and last.
Somerset, who confirmed their survival on Wednesday, won by 17 runs against Warwickshire, who wilted in the face of spin. Jack Leach finished with match figures of 11 for 180, and Tom Cooper’s part-timers took five for 76, despite never having managed to take more than two wickets in an innings before.
Lancashire lost their last seven wickets for 41, before Ravi Bopara scored an unbeaten 52 for Essex in a match that petered out into a draw at Chelmsford, and handed Surrey the Division Two title.
At the Kia Oval, 416 runs were scored and 14 wickets fell before hands were shaken. Tom Curran completed a 10-wicket haul before Northamptonshire registered their highest total of the season thanks to centuries from Adam Rossington and David Murphy, before Jason Roy scored 77 from 35 balls, with stumps drawn and the trophy presented shortly afterwards.
