Sangakkara guides Surrey to County Championship title
Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara helped Surrey to the LV County Championship Division Two title, thus propelling them into the top division for the upcoming season.
Lancashire, who were close behind Surrey in the Championship, failed to win against Essex. This ensured that despite their draw against Northamptonshire, the 13 points won by Surrey was sufficient to win the Division Two title. This draw helped Surrey to maintain their unbeaten record to eight matches.
Northants fought back well to amass a total of 514 as they followed-on after being bundled out for 110 by the Curran brothers in the first innings. Three centurions – David Murphy, Ben Duckett and Adam Rossington – helped Northants set a challenging target of 215 from a minimum of 33 overs. Surrey lost three early wickets, but Jason Roy, who recently signed a new three-year contract, scored a quick 77 off 35 balls to give some hope of a victory.
In the 16th over both the teams decided to shake on it and end the match, thus commencing celebrations for Surrey.
Earlier, Sangakkara scored his fifth century of the Championship when he made 101 off 140 balls and guided Surrey to 410. This was the 55th century of his first-class career.
After joining the county side this season Sangakkara has been in excellent form, scoring runs at ease. In the 11 matches he played, Sangakkara notched up 870 runs at an average of 45.78. Ashwell Prince of Lancashire and Nick Browne of Essex are the only ones, other than Sangakkara, who have scored five centuries this Championship season.
In the Surrey Cricket End of Season Awards that was held last night, Kumar Sangakkara won the Batsman of the Year Award, which showed Surrey's recognition of his contribution to their Division Two success.
Gary Wilson, Surrey’s wicketkeeper-batsman, was all praise for the batting maestro from Sri Lanka. “Kumar thoroughly deserves his county cap for what he's done for us this season. It's brilliant batting at the other end. I don't think I'm qualified to say how good a player he is, to be honest. It's amazing that he's got the hunger to keep doing it in every format.”
“We're very lucky to have him around and we're delighted he's coming back next year as well,” he continued.
Surrey and Lancashire, as a result of finishing as the top two teams of Division Two, were promoted to Division One as Sussex and Worcestershire were relegated from the top division to the lower division.
Sangakkara’s batting prowess and experience will definitely come in handy in Surrey’s Division One intents. Surrey will be hoping that the former Sri Lanka captain’s purple patch with the bat continues through the upcoming season too.
LV= County Championship Division Two, Kia Oval
Surrey 410: Sangakkara 101, S Curran 61* & 125-5: Roy 77; White 2-25
Northants 110: T Curran 7-35, S Curran 3-46 & 514 (f/o): Murphy 135no, Duckett 120, Rossington 116; Dunn 4-103
Surrey drew with Northants
Surrey 13 pts, Northants 8 pts