County Championship: Surrey pacemen topple Lancs to move closer to title

County Champions Surrey took less than two sessions on day four to bowl out Lancashire for 177 and complete an impressive innings and 63-run win.

Conor McKerr polished off Lancashire’s tail to finish with 4-27, while Dan Worrall and Jordan Clark each took three wickets as the Division One leaders made it seven wins from 10 to maintain their march towards an expected third successive title.

Matthew Hurst, Lancashire’s highly rated 20-year-old, tried hard to hold up Surrey, adding a fine 64 to a first-innings 46, but on a day when teenager Rocky Flintoff suffered a second-innings golden duck on his first-class debut, there was never much doubt about the outcome.

While Surrey now have an even more healthy lead at the top, they only have home advantage for one of their last four matches – and two of those.away games are against fellow title challengers Somerset and Essex.

They now face relegation threatened Notts at Trent Bridge on Thursday, followed by the trip to Taunton, then a home game with mid-table Durham before closing against Essex at Chelmsford in the last week of September.

Lancashire host Hampshire in Manchester on Thursday, then go to Durham, before finishing with Somerset at Old Trafford – and a final-week trip to Worcestershire.