Morne Morkel the star again as Surrey end 16-year wait for County Championship

Surrey are County Champions, for the first time since 2002. That they are worthy winners is beyond doubt; they secured the title away to Worcestershire, meaning they have beaten every Division One team at least once.

This one, by three wickets, was their ninth win on the spin (the first time they have done that since 1957), and tenth in 12 games. They have won the Championship but, just like Essex last year, there was never really a title race to win – had they not won today, the title would have come at Taunton next week or the Oval in the last.

Given the utterly unforgettable Test match they just hosted, Surrey CCC has certainly known worse weeks. Their chairman Richard Thompson and chief executive Richard Gould, as well as a number of non-playing squad members and fans came to Worcester to see victory secured. The bus back to London will be entertaining, just like the immediate celebrations on the balcony and the outfield.

What those travelling fans saw was not entirely straightforward as Worcestershire, bottom on points but top on spirit, would not lie down. Their four super seamers – three of them young local products, the fourth an international left-armer, Wayne Parnell – chipped away on a slow pitch, earning the wickets of Surrey’s top six, with four bowled and the other two slightly carelessly caught. Worcestershire are not far off relegation, but they deserve better and in Dillon Pennington, they have another terrific bowling prospect.

Surrey’s is a squad built to withstand international and IPL calls, and inevitable injuries. They have used 20 players (seven of them 20 or under), but as yet Gareth Batty and Jason Roy (injured today, but running the drinks) are not among them, and only captain Rory Burns and greenhorn spinner Amar Virdi have played the lot. It is a squad built around academy products, but finessed with high-quality additions from other counties – like Mark Stoneman and Ben Foakes. The final piece in the jigsaw was Morne Morkel, a point of difference cricketer who has 50 wickets at under 14 in his eighth games so far.

It was Morkel, who has won every Championship game he has played for the county, who turned this match. Despite Burns’ fourth century of the season, Surrey had conceded a first innings deficit of 68 and on the third afternoon, Worcestershire had swelled their lead to 222 for the loss of two wickets. Up stepped Morkel, to take five wickets in a spell, and limit the target to 272. With the wind in their sails, Stoneman and Burns had knocked off 70 of them by stumps. Somerset’s capitulation at Hampshire meant they needed just a draw, but Morkel’s burst took that result out of the equation.