HAMPSHIRE head coach Adi Birrell insisted it "feels wonderful" to lead Hampshire to their highest County Championship finish since 2005.

Hampshire beat Somerset on Saturday to see them clinch second-spot, in large part thanks to the heroics of captain James Vince.

They finished seven points behind Division One winners Surrey, earning 214 points, winning six and losing just once.

The South African is proud to have achieved his highest finish as a coach but added that he wished Hampshire could go one further by winning the title.

After beating Somerset to second place, Birrell said: “It feels wonderful. To come here where it is not easy to play and beat Somerset, who are a very good team, is very satisfying.

“The season as a whole has been great apart from a bit of a slow start. We have won six of our last ten games and been really on it in each one.

“Our first match was washed out and then we had some really boring draws because the pitches weren’t quite right for the Kookaburra ball.

"There was a watershed moment against Notts when I think we needed around 85 with five wickets down.

“We got the runs for the loss of only those five wickets and it proved a turning point for the season.

"I remember saying at the time that it was our opportunity to start looking up or worry about looking down.

“We showed great character, Fletcha Middelton and James Fuller seeing us home, and from then on we played really good cricket.

“It’s my highest finish as head coach and that makes me proud because it is so hard to win the Championship. Surrey have done it three times in a row and I only wish they would share it around.

“Every year since I took the job we have been in the first three or four and now we have come second. I just wish we could go one better.”