LONDON - Middlesex suffered the humiliation of being relegated just a year after being crowned English county champions.
Middlesex collapsed in limp fashion in their final match of the season with last year's runners-up Somerset, who were also battling to avoid relegation, as they skittled out for just 113 to lose by 231 runs. Hampshire's draw with Warwickshire sealed Middlesex's fate although the state of the Taunton pitch may still hold a glimmer of hope for them.
Althought it received a rating of ‘below average’ after the match -- which does not carry a points deduction -- investigations are to continue to see whether it overly favoured the hosts’ spinners.
“There's going to be an investigation tomorrow. Phil Whitticase, another CLO, comes in. He'll conduct an investigation and he will go through my findings and speak to both umpires, both captains and the groundstaff,” said ECB cricket liaison officer (CLO) Wayne Noon.
“He could downgrade it, he could upgrade it, that's entirely up to him. He looks at the evidence and he makes his own call.”
Middlesex's Australian captain Adam Voges conceded his team had been outplayed but was not impressed by the state of the pitch.
“We came here knowing we would face a pitch that helped Somerset's spinners because every team in the world prepares wickets to aid their strengths, but there needs to be line which teams can't cross,” said Voges.
“Whether Somerset have crossed that line for this match is for the match referee to decide. I have certainly let him know my thoughts. “What we didn't expect was rake marks at both ends that were encroaching into danger areas on what was already a worn pitch. That was a surprise. “I'll admit we have been comfortably outplayed over the four days. The ECB directive is that a pitch cannot be marked poor simply for excessive spin.”
Moving in the opposite direction are Worcestershire as champions of the second tier and Nottinghamshire, who completed a terrific season, having won both the limited-over competitions.
English County Championship scores from the final day of the 2017 season (fourth day of four):
FIRST DIVISION
+At Old Trafford: Surrey 201-8 dec (S Curran 56 no, S Mahmood 4-50) & 242 (M Stoneman 98, L Livingstone 6-52, S Parry 4-59) v Lancashire 268 (S Croft 115, A Davies 54) & 179-3 (L Livingstone 69 no)
Lancashire (20pts) beat Surrey (4pts) by 7 wkts
+At Taunton: Somerset 236 (E Byrom 56, R Patel 7-81) & 250-9 dec (J Hildreth 109, R Patel 5-92) v Middlesex 142 (J Leach 4-54) & 113 (J Leach 5-57, R van der Merwe 4-22)
Somerset (20pts) beat Middlesex (3pts) by 231 runs
+At Edgbaston: Warwickshire 188 (D Sibley 92 no, F Edwards 5-49) & 186 (I Bell 77 no) v Hampshire 116 (G Bailey 55, O Hannon-Dalby 4-29) & 195-7
Warwickshire (8pts) drew with Hampshire (8pts)
SECOND DIVISION
+At Bristol: Derbyshire 460 (A Hughes 142, W Madsen 121) & 144-0 dec (B Slater 74 no, L Reece 61 no) v Gloucestershire 224-2 dec (J Bracey 82 no, G Hankins 79 no) & 223 (Imran Tahir 5-76)
Derbyshire (21pts) beat Gloucestershire (3pts) by 157 runs
+At Grace Road: Leicestershire 128 (B Raine 57, R Gleeson 5-49, B Sanderson 5-39) & 270 (M Cosgrove 80, S Kerrigan 4-62) v Northamptonshire 202 (L Procter 82, B Raine 4-54) & 197-4 (L Procter 94)
Northamptonshire (20pts) beat Leicestershire (3pts) by 6 wkts
+At Hove: Sussex 565 (C Jordan 147, M Burgess 146, J Archer 72, D Rawlins 55) & 229-7 dec (L Wells 103, M Carter 4-106) v Nottinghamshire 477 (W Root 132, C Read 124)
Sussex (13pts) drew with Nottinghamshire (12pts)
+At New Road: Worcestershire 335 (R Ashwin 82, E Barnard 75, J Clarke 65, G Onions 4-68) & 242-3 dec (D Mitchell 123 no, G Rhodes 51 no) v Durham 208 (G Clark 60) & 232 (G Clark 62, R Ashwin 5-95)
Worcestershire (22pts) beat Durham (4pts) by 137 runs
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