Warwickshire seal a ninth County Championship as Bamber's nine wickets sink Leicestershire

Warwickshire are County Champions for the ninth time after beating Leicestershire by an innings and 79 runs at Edgbaston

Seam bowler Ethan Bamber finished the job on the third day of the final round, taking 5-52 to go with his 4-42 in the first innings and completing match figures of 9-94. Leicestershire, already certain of relegation, were bowled out for 125 and 168 in reply to Warwickshire's 372.

It is Warwickshire's first Championship since 2021, their fourth of this century and the ninth in the club's history. Seven wins from 14 matches carried them to 225 points, twenty clear of Somerset.

The title was decided before the last day of a season that began on 3 April, and it came at the end of a run-in in which Warwickshire won five of their final six matches, three of them by an innings.

Bamber finishes the job

Leicestershire chose to bat at Edgbaston and were dismissed for 125 inside 47 overs, conceding a lead of 247 that they never looked like erasing.

Asked to bat again, they reached 168 with Tom Scriven top-scoring on 49. Bamber bowled him to end the match and start the celebrations.

Bamber joined Warwickshire from Middlesex at the end of the 2024 season and has become the spine of an attack that took twenty wickets in match after match through the closing weeks.

Woakes the senior voice

Chris Woakes, 37 and retired from England duty since last year, took 3-38 in the second innings and contributed 228 runs and 27 wickets across the campaign.

His team-mate Oliver Hannon-Dalby paid tribute to a senior professional who kept turning up for a county rather than winding down. "He could easily be sat in Saint-Tropez right now with his feet up," Hannon-Dalby said. "But he's here trying to win a championship for us."

Somerset fall short again

Somerset needed Warwickshire to slip and instead spent the final round piling up runs at Taunton, their title hopes ending while they batted.

They made 731, the second highest total in their history, with Tom Abell last out for 307 from 407 balls with 31 fours and eight sixes. He is the eighth Somerset player to reach a first-class triple hundred.

Tom Lammonby made 229 from 359 balls and the pair added 334 for the fourth wicket, a club record. Migael Pretorius then made 84 in a ninth-wicket stand of 195 with Abell, another Somerset best.

Surrey replied with 422 and were 127 for 5 when rain ended the match as a draw. Somerset are runners-up for the seventh time this century and have still never won the Championship.

Relegation and promotion settled

Leicestershire go down with Hampshire, who were beaten by 197 runs by Sussex at the Rose Bowl in the last round.

Durham and Kent come up from Division Two, Durham finishing on 258 points after a drawn match at Old Trafford in which they made 493.

The round's closest finish came at Trent Bridge, where Yorkshire bowled Nottinghamshire out for 85 and then scrambled home by one wicket, reaching 159 for 9 in pursuit of a small target.

What Warwickshire did differently

Warwickshire were not among the pre-season favourites and won the title without a batter dominating the run charts, relying instead on a bowling attack that took twenty wickets repeatedly in the closing weeks.

Three innings victories in the final six matches turned a competitive season into a comfortable one, and the margin at the top never came under serious pressure on the last weekend.

Scorecard: Warwickshire 372 (113.3 overs); Leicestershire 125 (47 overs) and 168 (56.1 overs). Warwickshire won by an innings and 79 runs at Edgbaston.

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