The cricket season still has a few pages left to turn, with three final one-day internationals between England and Australia, and the concluding matches of the County Championship, which wraps up this weekend. Everything is set to conclude next Sunday, just over a week after the autumn equinox, though whether the weather cooperates remains to be seen.
The year's narrative includes three Tests against a West Indies team that performed slightly below expectations, and three against a Sri Lankan side that exceeded them. There were four resounding victories in quick succession, one closely contested match at Old Trafford, and the solitary defeat by eight wickets at the Oval. You might have overlooked it, but the best red-ball cricket in England this year wasn't at Lord's, Edgbaston, or Trent Bridge, but at the County Ground in Taunton, where Somerset triumphed over Surrey just a couple of weeks ago.
Nowadays, the championship often plays as background music to the English season, sometimes so quietly that people barely notice it. But this match was worth tuning into, with Somerset's live stream attracting over 750,000 viewers across the four days, a larger audience than many matches broadcast live on subscription TV.
It had all the twists, turns, tension, and excitement of a great Test match. Somerset, second in the table and chasing their first championship title, overtook league-leading Surrey in the final hour of play. Jack Leach and Archie Vaughan combined for seven wickets for just 14 runs in 18 overs, and Somerset secured victory with just five minutes to spare. It was the kind of cricket that makes you pause whatever you're doing.
Vaughan, just 18 and fresh out of school, was part of a fascinating lineup that included 11 internationals. Some, like Leach and Ben Foakes, were still striving to prove they deserve another shot at international cricket, while others, like Rory Burns, had already decided that chapter was closed. Shakib Al Hasan was there on a one-game deal for Surrey, and Tom Curran had come out of retirement from red-ball cricket specifically for this match. He turned the game with an 86 from No 7, until Tom Banton, batting on a broken ankle at No 11, turned it back the other way when his team's lead was just 149.
There's more rivalry between the two teams than one might realize. A few incidents on the field a decade ago, combined with their success in recent years, have kept them competitive across various competitions. The contrast between the clubs, one urban and one rural, adds to the tension, as do their respective championship records. Curran, who has faced relentless taunting from the Somerset crowd over the years, didn't need much encouragement to play against them this time. It seemed Somerset's victory had set up one of the great climaxes.
But it hadn't. Last week, Surrey quickly dispatched a home match against Durham, which included two teenage fast bowlers, while Somerset's away game against Lancashire was a disaster. The title was ultimately settled early Friday morning when Somerset lost their last four wickets before it was time to take the teabag out of the pot. The championship, like the game itself, ebbs and flows. For the players, it's a full-time job, but for everyone else, it only demands occasional attention.
So, Surrey has won their third consecutive title with a week to spare, the first club to do so since Brian Close's Yorkshire in the late 60s. This is fitting, as they are the best-run club in the country. They have natural advantages others don't, but they also know how to maximize them. While Lancashire's CEO Daniel Gidney has complained that England players (and their agents) don't care about the championship, it was notable how many of Surrey's white-ball internationals showed up when the title was on the line in the last two weeks.
They may not be one of the great championship teams, with a couple of older Surrey sides likely to beat them more often than not. But the club seems to have come closer than anyone else to figuring out how county cricket should work in the 21st century. They are partly a professional team, partly a player-development hub, and partly a community resource. Having money is one thing; knowing what to do with it is another. This is a lesson some counties will learn the hard way when next year's windfall from private investment in The Hundred arrives.
