Surrey clinched the Frizzell County Championship today, even though they were not in action. To keep the title race nominally alive Warwickshire needed to take maximum batting points at Old Trafford and Kent had to beat Somerset at Taunton. Both counties failed to achieve their targets, handing Surrey their 18th Championship. The best allround side of recent years, Surrey also won the title in 1999 and 2000, before Yorkshire nipped in last year, and they have been in commanding form this term. There has been a quiet determination about Surrey's array of international stars this summer, and to discover the reason it's only necessary to think back to that black day in March, when Ben Hollioake was killed in a car accident in Australia. It has been largely unspoken, but Surrey have been determined to mark the passing of their unfulfilled allrounder with another trophy.

And no-one has been more dedicated to that task than Adam Hollioake, Ben's brother and Surrey's captain. After returning late to the helm he has contributed a number of broodingly violent innings, hitting 510 runs at 56 with a strike rate of 96 runs per 100 balls.

Within minutes of being confirmed as the new champions, Surrey announced that the win would be dedicated to Ben. "For me personally that was never a factor, to me it doesn't bring Ben back," Adam said. "The other guys would be likely to treat it more that way, they probably thought it was a way of paying their respects to him.

"I just found it a nice gesture from the club to say that. The other players talked to me about Ben before I came back to England and when they walked out they knew they were winning, that was the biggest honour, they were that fired up and focused.

"What they have done for the club and for me and my family has been more than a tale of winning the championship. I feel honoured to know them, they are a special bunch."

The presentation of the Championship pennant will be an emotional time for the Surrey squad, as will their last home game of the summer, against Leicestershire at The Oval, starting on September 18.

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