Somerset chase 136-year first as Warwickshire lead final round
Somerset go into the final round of the County Championship 11 points behind Warwickshire and still chasing a first title after 136 years of trying.
Warwickshire led the table ahead of the final round on 23 September, with Somerset second, according to The Guardian. The table told the same story. Warwickshire had 203 points from 13 matches, Somerset had 192 from 13. Eleven points. One round left.
The final round of the 2026 County Championship began on 24 September. Warwickshire were scheduled to host Leicestershire at Edgbaston. Somerset were scheduled to play Surrey at Taunton. Defending champions Nottinghamshire were scheduled to face Yorkshire at Trent Bridge.
The County Championship is England and Wales’s long-form domestic league, played over four days with wins, draws and bonus points shaping the table. The lead has swung late. With two matches remaining, Somerset, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire were separated by only five points, according to BBC Sport.
Somerset had hit the front by beating Leicestershire by 377 runs in early September. Warwickshire then answered in the penultimate round, beating Essex by eight wickets inside two days to retake top spot, according to BBC Sport. That two-day win opened the current gap.
For Somerset, the near-misses are piling up. The club had finished as runners-up six times in the 21st century as of September 2026, including second-place finishes in 2016, 2018 and 2019. It is a proud county without the one prize its supporters want most.
There is a personal edge too. Tom Banton, 27, quit red-ball cricket — the four-day, red-ball version of the game — in summer 2026. A year earlier he had said: “Winning our first County Championship, that is the main goal for me.” Somerset must now try to finish the job without him.
For fans, this means a straight shootout with no hiding place. Somerset need a big result against Surrey at the Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton, where play was due to start at 10:30 am on 24 September. They also need Warwickshire to slip against Leicestershire. Tickets in Taunton started from £15 for adults, a small price for a possible piece of history.
