After Surrey achieved three bonus points in the first innings of their clash with Hampshire, Essex had to reach 400 against Northamptonshire to stand a chance of taking the title from the Kia Oval
Surrey are County Championship winners for the 21st time outright after Essex were unable to secure the bonus points they needed to keep the race alive.
Surrey bowled Hampshire out for 219 and were bowled out themselves for 207, meaning that Essex had to reach 400 at Wantage Road to keep the race alive going into the second half of those games.
But Essex were bowled out for 211 by Northamptonshire, ending their hopes of a ninth title. Their tilt essentially ended courtesy of last week's defeat to Hampshire at Chelmsford.
Match-winning performances have been spread across the Surrey squad (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images for Surrey CCC)
Gareth Batty's side are the first county to retain the Division One crown since Yorkshire's back-to-back triumphs in 2014 and 2015. It is their third in the last five campaigns of the Championship, while their 21 outright crowns sit alongside the shared title with Lancashire in 1950.
The Kia Oval club have held a tight grip in the top division through most of the campaign, returning to the top after beating London rivals Middlesex in May and barely putting a foot wrong thereafter.
They escaped from the rain-affect clash at Chelmsford with a draw and were beaten by Lancashire - their first home defeat in 19 first-class matches - but have often blown away their opponents behind with dominant displays.
Celebration time once again for Rory Burns and Surrey (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Kent and Somerset succumbed by 10 wickets while Warwickshire, Hampshire and Middlesex were torched by nine. The start of September saw 2021 winners Warwickshire handsomely beaten again by an innings and 97 runs while Middlesex were overwhelmed in the reverse fixture in mid-July by eight wickets.
As with their triumph in 2022, performances have been spread across the squad. At the time of writing, no batter has broken 800 runs, while no member of the bowling battery has reached 50 wickets for the season.
A marker has already been laid down ahead of next season too, with Dan Lawrence scheduled to join from boyhood club Essex.
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