Key events
Time for me to sign off, with gentle celebrations still rippling away on the Edgbaston turf. Huge congratulations to Warwickshire, most worthy Champions, and to Kent who will join them in Division One next summer. We’ll be back tomorrow for the final day of this 2026 season. Do join us.
Close of play scores
Division One
Cardiff: Glamorgan 505 v Essex 129 and 331-5
Utilita: Sussex 244 & 319-9 BEAT Hampshire 128 and 238 by 197 runs
Trent Bridge: Yorkshire 179 and 159-9 BEAT Nottinghamshire 251 & 85 by one wicket
Taunton: Somerset 691-8 v Surrey 422
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 372 BEAT Leicestershire 125 & 168 by an innings and 79 runs to win the Championship.
Division Two
Canterbury: Kent 353 and 120-2 BEAT Gloucestershire 229 and 241 by eight wickets and are promoted
Old Trafford: Lancashire 267-5 v Durham 493
Lord’s: Middlesex 255 and 134-3 BEAT Northamptonshire 103 & 285 by seven wickets
New Road: Worcestershire 214 and 206 BEAT Derbyshire 88 and 157 by 175 runs
With Warwickshire’s squad still sitting in a circle in the sun on the Edgbaston pitch, the trophy next to them, it is time for me to write up. Do hang around to read the runes.
Double centuries for Lammonby and Abell, centuries for Elgar and Bohannon
Which leaves three games to meander into the last day of the season.
Essex are battling in their follow on at Sophia Gardens, propped up by Dean Elgar’s 108 in his final first-class innings. Essex 239-3, still trail Glamorgan by 137.
Runs galore at Taunton where Somerset must be content with making Surrey chase leather over and over again. Tom Lammonby was finally out for 229, while Tom Abell is undefeated on 251. Somerest 635-8, have a lead of 213 over Surrey.
And Lancashire have crossed the 200-run rubicon at last, thanks to a first hundred in a long time for Josh Bohannon, undefeated on 112. Lancs 243-4 trail Durham by 250.
Promoted Kent BEAT Gloucestershire by eight wickets!
Sam Northeast seals the deal with a flurry of boundaries. A fabulous turnaround by Kent, who are promoted after finishing bottom of the Championship last year and starting the season horribly. But then Adam Hollioake switched off the social media comments and they never looked back, winning eight games. Kent’s fans give Northeast, who rejoined his boyhood club from Glamorgan at the end of last season, and captain Bell-Drummond, a standing ovation as they walk off a sunlit Canterbury.
For Gloucestershire, who finish bottom, it is back to the drawing board.
They’ve lost the ball at Canterbury, with Kent needing 6 to beat Gloucestershire.
Sussex BEAT Hampshire by 197 runs!
Utilita: Sussex 244 & 319-9 BEAT Hampshire 128 and 238 by 197 runs
A cracking recovery by Hampshire’s tail but it was always going to be impossible to pull off a huge chase from the depths of 3 for four. So Hampshire are relegated with a ninth defeat and Sussex, docked 12 points at the start of the season, complete a fabulous campaign. A real shame the squad is spreading to all parts of the country now.
Bairstow wins Yorkshire’s final game with a six! Yorkshire BEAT Notts by one wicket
On his birthday too! Disappointment for Notts, who relinquish last year’s magnificent title with a bit of a whimper, and will finish fourth. And a big improvement for Yorkshire, who complete three Division One wins for the first time since 2015.
Trent Bridge: Yorkshire 179 and 159-9 BEAT Nottinghamshire 251 & 85 by one wicket
YJB livens up the penultimate afternoon with two fours and a six, but partner Ben Cliff is out for a duck! Yorkshire, nine down, need five to beat Notts. Jack White has to negotiate the rest of Patterson-White’s over….
Saif Zaib, Northants’ top scorer at Lord’s with 110, mulls over the final game, ultimately ending in defeat and the end to the promotion dream..
“It’s a disappointing end to our season, we’ve played good cricket throughout the whole year and a few missed chances in different games might have cost us.
“I thought we bowled pretty well, with a few chances here and there and a few play and misses. It’s just we didn’t have enough on the board – 200 might have been squeaky bum time for them.”
A third for Patterson-White as Coad pushes forward and nibbles behind, and now Yorkshire need 19 with just two wickets left. Coad holds his bat behind his back in disappointment.
Lots of squeaky finishes going on, including at Trent Bridge where Yorkshire, seven down, need just 21. YJB, 17 not out, one six, one four, has Ben Coad for company.
Worcestershire BEAT Derbyshire by 175 runs
New Road: Worcestershire 214 and 206 BEAT Derbyshire 88 and 157 by 175 runs
After being bowled out for 157 (Ben Allison 6 for 42, Ben Gibbon 4 for 28) Derbyshire slump to a final sixth position in Division Two, Worcestershire a slightly more perky fifth.
Applause broke out at Canterbury as fans heard of Northants’ defeat by Middlesex, which means Kent will definitely play Division One cricket next year. And Zak Crawley is in a hurry to celebrate – set 119 to win by Gloucestershire, Kent are 35 for one, Crawley 26 not out, 20 of them in boundaries.
The Warwickshire players are still out on the pitch mingling in the sun. Let’s leave them there for a while and see what else has been happening around the grounds.
And hello Richard Spiller, who has sent me a gloriously evocative picture of Lord’s that I can’t manage to attach.
“I hope Warwickshire enjoy their moment of triumph. Good luck to them, you don’t win the County Championship by accident.
“When Glamorgan won their first title, in 1948, it was by beating Hampshire at Bournemouth.
“When umpire Dai Davies gave the final batsman out, he said ‘that’s out and we’ve won!’.”
Ed Barnard: you don’t plan to have the perfect game, but we’ve had a few
“It’s an incredible feeling. The cricket we have played all season but especially in the last six weeks has been amazing and it has been pretty special to be part of. The bowling is going to get a lot of plaudits and rightly so, Ethan, Woakesey and Olly have been brilliant and Manny has come in and given us just what we need. But we have done really well with the bat as well. We have played on a lot of bowler-friendly pitches this year and scored the runs we needed.
“It’s been very special to see it all come together in the last six weeks. You don’t plan to have the perfect game but we have had two or three of them and it’s been really special.
“Ethan has been incredible. We knew the quality he had when he signed but he has gone up four levels, never mind one level. He works as hard as anybody, I think everyone knows the hours he puts in – this morning he was first out there, bowling – and he is the nicest man in county cricket as well. He has been relentless in his quality and a great addition to the squad but the whole squad has delivered and I am so proud of them.”
He also praised Sam Hain as, “the most underrated cricketer in the country,” as well as his team’s work ethic – that they came in to train on Sundays after they’d notched up the two-day wins.
Happy scenes in the sunshine here at Edgbaston as players mix with fans, and their families, and the champagne flows.
Ethan Bamber, he of 69 wickets, is called the nicest man in cricket by his captain Ed Barnard, and is ridiculously modest when he gets his turn in front of reporters.
“You always wonder, as an average cricketer like me, how high your ceiling is, and in quiet moments I wasn’t sure I quite had it, but here I’ve been given the opportunity and space to express myself on the field. I feel like I have been the beneficiary of a really good group.” He stops to sign a bat, and is given a plastic cup of Champagne as a man dressed as Scooby-Doo sidles up.
“As a group we had a really clear approach – not just our skill but how we carry ourselves, our presence and energy, and when we had tough moments, and there were tough moments, we had something to cling onto.”
Middlesex beat Northants by seven wickets – Kent are promoted!
Luke McLaughlin
Middlesex accelerate to Max Holden’s first victory as captain: Holden (50) and Geddes (59 not out) slapped the ball around towards the end to wrap up a comfortable seven-wicket victory. Geddes has 116 runs in the match, while Kent will be promoted to Division One regardless of the result against Gloucestershire in Canterbury. A strong finish to the season for Middlesex, along with the One Day Cup triumph, but can they knit together a promotion challenge next season?
Lord’s: Middlesex 255 and 134-3 BEAT Northamptonshire 103 & 285 by seven wickets
Now Warwicks are doing a little tour with the trophy, walking past the spectators, who are all gathered into the stands at the Pavillion End. You Bears echoes around the ground as a tired September wasp lands on my notebook.
Chris Woakes gets the loudest cheer, although perhaps that’s now beaten by Ed Barnard, who beckons over the remaining squad members. And there’s the trophy! Warwickshire – thoroughly deserving 2026 champions.
Medals are being handed out by Neil Snowball, the ECB’s MD of competitions and major events, and Warwickshire chair Tracey Orr. First to the coaching staff, then to the players starting with Ethan Bamber (huge roar).
There are so many people here! Huge applause as Warwickshire are led down the Edgbaston steps by captain Ed Barnard.
Luke McLaughlin
Holden (42 not out) and Geddes (26 not out) have calmly steered Middlesex to 86-2 off 32 overs, and a fifth County Championship win of the season beckons. Why the hosts batted so carelessly on the first evening is anyone’s guess – but at least it created a bit of intrigue in ultimately setting up this fourth-innings run chase. A reasonable crowd is lapping up the late-summer sunshine and Middlesex need another 48 to win.
The trophy presentation is being laid out on the grass, I’m heading down there too.
Warwickshire win the title, beating Leicestershire by an innings and 79 runs
Ethan Bamber clinches it! Of course he does. Congratulations Warwickshire! A ninth Championship title, and a fourth this century. The roll call: 1911, 1951, 1972, 1994, 1995, 2004, 2012, 2021 and now 2026.
After a slow burn start to a season that began on April 3, they finished at a canter, five wins in the last six games and four steam-rolling victories in a row, finishing with this innings victory of relegated Leicestershire.
A team performance built on the back of an astonishing season for Ethan Bamber whose 69 wickets make him the leading wicket-taker in Division One, backed up by Ed Barnard (30) and Olly Hannon-Dalby (28), while Sam Hain’s 1048 runs were the backbone of the team and Rob Yates’ astonishing catches at slip the beauty spots.
There’s a huge bouncing team huddle, as the rest of the squad run on to join the playing XI, including Keith Barker. Handshakes for Leicestershire, stumps for the bowlers and the team and supporters applaud each other as the players walk off the field.
Josh Hull somehow survives an over from Chris Woakes who arrows past the bat.
Applause for YOU BEARS as they prowl out for their final post-prandial search for one wicket. Hull and Scriven resume their bear-baiting.
An email lands – with a title of Melancholy. “I’m sitting on the top tier of the Lord’s pavilion, as the lowering sun lights up the lovely ground,” writes Paul McIntyre. “The place is buzzing. The last dregs of the season. Northants not giving up without a fight. Don’t let’s hear any more calls for the Championship season to be curtailed.”
I love the last September days too (though they can be a bit of a lottery).
Time for me to grab some lunch, as hundreds of people wander onto the Edgbaston pitch in the sun. Back shortly.
Warwickshire take lunch needing just one wicket to win the Championship
Well played Scriven and Hull! They must now eat on tenterhoooks and come back out at five past two. Huge applause for the Warwicks team from the ultras.
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 372 v Leicestershire 125 & 167-9
Hull dangles his bat like a fishing rod and Woakes skids one underneath. And another! And we go on.
Chris Woakes replaces Suthar at the City end, and clouds float over Edgbaston. Scriven tries to hook him out of the ground but misses and gets in a tangle with the ball by his boots. This partnership now worth 23.
Suthar it is, with a skip and a twirl. Scriven bats him away: once, thrice, six times. And we’re not having lunch yet.
Bamber gets a handclap to gird his loins as he runs in. The fielders are circling on the spot, just waiting to celebrate.
Now a four for Josh Hull. Ethan Bamber will have another go.
And Scriven cracks Bamber through point into the empty outfield for four. Suthar will continue from the City end.
An lbw appeal against Hull, but the umpire says wait a little longer.
Ed Barnard calls for Ethan Bamber…the leading Division One wicket-taker. In he runs, a tiny accompanying shadow in the Birmingham sunshine.
