Hameed and Moores' long voyage to bring Nottinghamshire title

Nottinghamshire, who only just darted away from the closing doors of relegation last summer, are the surprise winners of the 2025 County Championship, ending Surrey's run of wins from 2022 to 2024 and collecting their first title since 2010.

- Tanya Aldred Trent Bridge

It came with a big beautiful six from Kyle Verreynne, which arced over the midwicket boundary and took Notts past the magic 300-run mark, gave them a second batting bonus point and made them uncatchable.

The white bucket seats at Trent Bridge, increasingly filled by scurrying fans in autumnal fleeces, burst into applause, the players on the balcony whooped and Liam Patterson-White and Verreynne, who hit the winning runs for South Africa in the World Test Championship final in June, hugged in the middle of the pitch.

It is Nottinghamshire's seventh title and there is something entirely suitable that an unfairly unfancied competition now belongs to two unfairly unfancied men, the head coach, Peter Moores, and the captain, Haseeb Hameed, whose careers have ebbed and flowed.