HAMPSHIRE became just the second team to beat Surrey during their back-to-back LV Insurance County Championship titles-winning campaigns.

Only Lancashire had beaten Surrey in 2022 and 2023 in red ball cricket, winning once in either season.

But Liam Dawson took his season tally to 49 wickets by taking two of the four wickets needed to secure victory, with Surrey only scoring 20 of the 73 required to lose by 52 runs.

Despite the defeat, Surrey were presented with the Division One trophy by ECB chair Richard Thompson.

Hampshire captain James Vince said: “It is nice to finish with a win. First of all, though, credit to Surrey for winning it.

"They have been the stand-out team across the whole season and they deserve to be champions.

“We’ve finished off with three wins in a row including against Essex and champions Surrey.

“It is easy to look back at little moments where if we could have turned a loss into a draw or a draw into a win.

“We know how close we are [to winning a title] but also how much those small margins in games impact the overall season when you get to this point and look back.

“We made finals day, lost in the final of the One Day Cup, and finished third in the Championship.

"It is one of those years where we have been there or thereabouts in all competitions but have nothing to show for it.

“It is tough to win trophies but we have been consistent across all formats for the last two or three years.

“Third is disappointing, our goal is to win the Championship, but at the same time to finish in the top three consistently shows we are doing a lot of things well.

“Daws has been fantastic. He got off to a tricky start but since the end of April, he has been fantastic with bat and ball.

"He’s stood up in crucial moments and when wickets have assisted him he’s played a massive part.”

Hampshire finished third for a second year in a row having won eight matches in the County Championship – the same as Surrey.