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AAP
AAP
Ian Chadband

Aussie Worrall at heart of Surrey's county triumphs

Aussie Dan Worrall has played a huge part in Surrey's back-to-back county championship triumphs. (Richard Wainwright/AAP PHOTOS)

Surrey have won English cricket's county championship for the 21st time - and they can once again thank their prolific Australian wicket taker Dan Worrall for doing so much to lift them to back-to-back titles.

The champions learned of their latest success at the Rose Bowl in somewhat anti-climactic fashion when they were in the field against Hampshire on Thursday. 

Surrey were confirmed as winners before lunch when it emerged that Essex, 185km away at Northampton, had failed to secure the bonus points needed to top them.

The Surrey fans at the Southampton venue cheered, the bubbly flowed over lunch - and one of the toasts was doubtless to Worrall, the unsung Melburnian who for the second year running had proved key.

It had been a day for the Surrey spinners, who skittled Hampshire, but Worrall had kicked off all the fun off his familiar angled run-up, the seamer known as 'Franky' - after the West Indian great Frank Worrell - grabbing the first wicket of the morning by trapping Tony Albert lbw.  

It was his 48th wicket of the season, matching the team-leading tally of his fellow seamer Jordan Clark and putting him in the top-10 of first division wicket takers this season.

Worrall's haul, at 24.20 per wicket and which included three innings five-fors, was a terrific follow-up to his equally successful 2022 campaign when he also topped the Surrey charts with 39 wickets at 24.15.

It's seven years since Worrall made his only three appearances for Australia - in one-day internationals against Ireland - but the 32-year-old, who never quite kicked on in his heyday for South Australia, has become a stalwart in the English county game during two spells at Gloucestershire and now at Surrey.

He made the decision in 2021 to move on from his Australian cricket ambitions and, using a British passport gleaned through his English father, signed a long-term deal with Surrey.

Worrall hasn''t been the only Australian to help Surrey flourish this season, with World Cup-bound allrounder Sean Abbott a key contributor earlier in the county campaign with 37 wickets at 24.78 backed up by some key runs.

One of the highlights of Surrey's season was the Aussie pair's extraordinary big-hitting, last-wicket partnership of 130 against Lancashire at The Oval in June, in which No.11 Worrall reached only his second first-class half-century and Abbott ended unbeaten on 87.

Worrall now has the chance to help Surrey celebrate their triumph as the first team to win the county first division in successive years since Yorkshire in 2014 and 2015 in the grand manner. 

On Friday, Surrey will resume their season-ending clash on 6-112, with 73 still needed to win. 

The unsung hero will doubtless be ready for one last slice of glory.

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