WARWICKSHIRE bowler Nathan Gilchrist congratulated Nottinghamshire on their Rothesay County Championship success – but the Bears were facing an uphill battle on the third day at Trent Bridge.
Led impressively from the front by captain Haseeb Hameed’s fourth century of the season, Nottinghamshire clinched the title on day two of the final round of fixtures.
The Division One leaders put themselves out of reach of defending champions Surrey as they totalled 374 in reply to Warwickshire’s 258.
But the Bears ended the day losing three wickets with just seven runs on the board at the close of play.
Gilchrist told Warwickshire’s official website: “It was a strange feeling being out there when every single is being applauded like it’s a boundary.
“You’re not being spectators, but you know you’re not the story at that point. To be honest, I didn’t know they needed 300, so I thought it was strange that everyone was clapping every single.
“We were just bystanders for a period there, but congratulations to Notts, they’ve been good all year. I’ve got a few mates in the Notts side, so I’m glad for them. They definitely deserve it.
“I was happy with how I bowled. Obviously, the second new ball, they came out with a bit of intent to score and that happens.
“For me, coming here to finish the season here has been really good. Getting to know everyone on a personal level going into next year, it really does make a big difference. They’ve welcomed me really, really well. So it’s been awesome so far.”
Needing just two more points at the start of play to deny Surrey a fourth consecutive title, Nottinghamshire achieved that goal at six minutes before five o’clock as Kyle Verreynne, their South Africa international wicketkeeper, pulled seamer Nathan Gilchrist high over the deep midwicket boundary for six, taking their first-innings total past 300 to secure a second batting bonus point.
Verreynne, who also hit the winning runs as South Africa beat Australia at Lord’s to be crowned World Test champions in June, raised both arms in the air before embracing batting partner Liam Patterson-White as a Trent Bridge crowd that had grown considerably since lunch rose to their feet.
He went on to make 83, with Patterson-White hitting 70 as the two shared a decisive seventh-wicket partnership of 119. Ethan Bamber, Ed Barnard and Gilchrist took three wickets each but at seven for three in their second innings, trailing by 109 runs, Warwickshire, who had their sights on overtaking Somerset to take third place in the table, are in deep trouble.
It is Nottinghamshire’s seventh County Championship in all and their first since 2010, one that was effectively won a week ago when victory over Surrey at the Kia Oval made them short-priced favourites to take the crown.
Head coach Peter Moores, for many years the only coach to win the title with two counties until Mark Robinson, twice a winner with Sussex, equalled the feat in 2021 with Warwickshire, now stands alone in winning championships with three counties, having previously done so with Sussex and Lancashire.
Yet for all that it was Verreynne, who hit four sixes, and Patterson-White, who struck 11 fours, who grabbed the glory, it was Hameed who made it possible.
The 28-year-old sometime England opener’s 122 laid the foundations and took his season aggregate to 1,253 runs in first-class matches, the highest of his career. This is the third time in four seasons he has exceeded 1,000 runs.
Earlier in the day, he and Ben Slater had put on 56 for the first wicket as Nottinghamshire, who had claimed the final Warwickshire wicket with the last ball of the opening day, came through a difficult morning session at 100 for two.
Slater, caught behind as Michael Booth found some extra bounce from the Radcliffe Road End, and Freddie McCann, who lost his middle stump to Bamber, were the two morning casualties.
It would have been 78 for three had Hameed not been put down by Rob Yates at second slip on 45. As it was, as conditions for batting became a little easier after lunch, Hameed and Joe Clarke (52) added 122 in 32 overs for the third wicket.
Two dismissals in three balls then jolted their progress. Clarke, reaching for a delivery outside off stump, feathered a catch to Alex Davies off Bamber, before Jack Haynes, confident he had let his second ball go past the bat, looked up to find Warwickshire’s appeals for a thin edge to the ‘keeper had been granted.
Haynes was the third of six victims in the innings for Davies, a total in a single innings bettered by only two other ‘keepers in Warwickshire’s history.
If that was not a reminder to Nottinghamshire supporters to take nothing for granted, then the sight of Hameed completing his fourth hundred of the season flat on his stomach surely must have been.
Confident there was a single on as he clipped Bamber towards midwicket, the captain was startled to see Tazeem Ali swooping to field and even his full-length dive might not have saved him had the teenager’s shy hit. As it was, Warwickshire ran out neither Hameed nor new partner Verreynne, who would have been out by a distance without scoring had the throw gone to the ‘keeper’s end.
Hameed – dropped at slip in the previous over – was bowled middle stump by Nathan Gilchrist on the stroke of tea, leaving them 218 for five. The ovation from the spectators was fully deserved. The season has seen him make a double-hundred twice and carry his bat through the innings twice.
Warwickshire’s seamers were rewarded again half an hour into the final session as Lyndon James edged Barnard to give Davies a fourth catch. Nottinghamshire, now six down, still needed another 52 for 300 and with the second new ball soon to become available.
It might have been a moment of jeopardy, yet any sense of that quickly disappeared. Verreynne and Patterson-White had clearly decided on a glorious finale and it was Gilchrist who felt the full force of it.
His first over with the new ball went for 17 after Patterson-White had begun it with three glorious shots for four, his second for 15 as Verreynne took centre stage.
It was the cue for the seventh-wicket due to really let rip, stretching their partnership to 100 in precisely 100 balls and 119 from 120 before Verreynne, who hit nine fours and four sixes, became a fifth victim for Davies behind the stumps, a ball from Barnard glancing the bat as the South African tried to pull it clear.
Back for another spell after his chastening experience earlier, Gilchrist then obtained the smallest modicum of revenge by bowling Patterson-White, Barnard picked up his third wicket by bowling Brett Hutton.
Gilchrist was the bowler as Mohammad Abbas nicked to Davies, leaving Warwickshire, 116 behind, to face four overs before the close, in which they lost both Yates and Davies leg before to Abbas as the Pakistan international delivered a final flourish to Nottinghamshire’s day, Hutton getting in on the act by having nightwatcher Bamber caught at second slip.
