Durham relegated after collapse at Yorkshire, Hampshire survive: county cricket final day – as it happened | County Championship

“Drinks are on us lads.” So went the social media post from Hampshire’s X account in response to Yorkshire’s own post summing up a skittish afternoon at Headingley that saw Durham’s batting card skedaddled for 85 runs, a calamitous batting collapse that resulted in the North Easterners snatching relegation from the jaws of survival.

A few hours earlier things were not looking too rosy on the South coast as Surrey’s late season signing Rahul Chahar found the final wicket the south London side needed for victory. James Fuller stood rooted to the spot in disappointment after his attempted force off the back foot produced a thin edge that was duly snaffled by Ben Foakes behind the stumps.

Fuller’s was the final wicket Surrey needed to bowl out Hampshire for 160 and notch the win to secure their finish as Division One runners up to Nottinghamshire.

Chahar’s fizzing haul of 8-51 were the best innings figures for Surrey in a First-Class match since Kemar Roach’s blistering 8-40 against Hampshire at the Oval in 2021, and, more impressively, the best by a spinner for Surrey since Pat Pocock’s 9-57 v Glamorgan at Cardiff in 1979.

Hampshire’s loss meant that all Durham had to do was bat out the day in Leeds to ensure their own survival, their fate firmly in their own batting gloves. They felt the pressure keenly, collapsing under it like a batch of Braeburn’s on a late September Apple pressing. Only Alex Lees and David Bedingham made double figures as their fate was sealed in dramatic fashion – George Hill and Dom Bess taking four wickets each as Durham’s last eight wickets fell for just 28 runs. Hampshire avoided the slip by just one point in the end, no wonder they were offering to get them in.

Essex beat Somerset by seven wickets in Chelmsford, Charlie Allison launching Jake Ball back over his head and out of the ground to seal victory with a six.

Elsewhere, 20 year old Stuart van der Merwe scored a maiden first class century (who’s counting though eh – Jacob Bethell?) in his first first-class match for Northamptonshire, becoming only the third player in the club’s history to make three figures on first class debut. A battling second innings saw Northants post 333 and bat for over 105 overs as they eventually went down to Champions Leicestershire by 167 runs.

Derbyshire cemented Kent’s bottom of the table woes by serving up an innings and 229 run defeat and Middlesex finally prised out Gloucestershire at Lord’s to win by an innings and 67 runs. Marchant de Lange’s under edge to Joe Cracknell off Zafar Gohar the final act of the 2025 season.

Next April feels a considerable way away as a long winter awaits. Not least for Durham and their supporters.