Tongue stars as Notts beat Surrey by 20 runs to close in on title
Josh Tongue, thundering in on his great long legs, bowled Nottinghamshire to victory in an electric Championship slug-fest at the Oval, giving Notts a 14-point advantage over Surrey going into the final round, and putting one East Midlands hand on the trophy.
It was a game full of unexpected twists with Surrey often on top in their chase of 315. Ollie Pope made 41 until he was caught off Lyndon James then Dan Lawrence and Tom Curran attacked with a bravado that had Surrey members purring. In an inspired bit of captaincy, Haseeb Hameed then called up Liam Patterson-White for one over, Curran charged him and was stumped for 33. Lawrence was lbw for 50 to Dillon Pennington but some clean ball striking from Tom Lawes once more tipped the scales. Hameed switched Tongue to the pavilion end and, bowling with venom, he had Gus Atkinson snaffled at slip, removed Matt Fisher’s middle stump and finally Lawes was caught on the boundary with 20 runs to spare. It was Surrey’s first defeat of the season and Notts’ first win at the Oval since 2008. “I don’t think I have ever played in a Championship match as good as that,” Tongue said after play, five wickets in his pocket, though whether England allow him to play in the final match is yet to be seen. Surrey have the more difficult challenge, travelling to play a Hampshire side desperate to avoid relegation, while Notts entertain Warwickshire at Trent Bridge.
Glamorgan grabbed the second promotion place to end 20 years in the Division Two wilderness after their soggy game at Derby ended in a draw. They join Leicestershire who were crowned Division Two champions with one match to play. Elsewhere, Somerset were unable to unpick Hampshire, despite six wickets for Archie Vaughan, which ends their Championship hopes for another year. Yorkshire batted out a draw at Hove and will play a relegation ding-dong against Durham, who gained valuable batting points thanks to Emilio Gay and Will Rhodes but remain in a precarious position.
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Time to say goodbye from a darkening Oval. It’s been a wet week but worth it for a thrilling last day – Nottinghamshire pipped the Champions to go into the final week with a 14 point buffer. Meanwhile Leicestershire are crowned Party Division Champions and Glamorgan will join them in Div One next year. Worcestershire make the return journey.
We’ll be back next week for one final week of Championship cricket. To you all, thank you and good night!
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