SURREY will not be able to challenge for the county championship next season for the first time in their 116-year history. Shortly after noon yesterday, Yogesh Golwalkar, a little-known Indian leg spinner who had been specifically hired by Middlesex to do the hard work for them, took the wicket that consigned their neighbours to the second division.

It was a poignant moment for the county of Hobbs and Sandham, the Bedser twins, May, Barrington and all the other legends. Surrey won the first championship in 1890 and 17 more besides, seven of them in successive seasons, but, rather than dwelling on the cruellest aspect of relegation, Alan Butcher, the new coach, was already looking to the future.

He was sitting in the new OCS Stand outlining his plans when Golwalkar took that fateful wicket and there was not a flicker of emotion as he took on board all that Steve Rixon, his Australian predecessor, had said about the lack of professionalism, the restraints of long-term contracts and the other problems he perceived in the county game.

“We would have been kidding ourselves if we had thought that mere survival was going to help us move forward and try to recreate some of the good times we have had in the past,” Butcher said. “There is a lot of talking that needs to be done. Over the last two years we have not done ourselves justice and the players are holding their hands up for that. We need to get back to some of the group ethos that we had a few years ago, basically a code that we’re all prepared to live and play by. We need to address that.”

Butcher also has to address the fact that there have been six thirtysomethings in the side this season in Graham Thorpe, who has already announced his retirement, Martin Bicknell, who must now decide on his future, Alistair Brown, Ian Salisbury, Mark Ramprakash and Mark Butcher, the new captain, who should at least be on the same wavelength as his father.

“Going down will obviously make it imperative that we do something about the age profile of our side and improve the squad, but if we can effect some changes in attitude and have a more professional approach I still feel we have enough talent here to compete strongly,” Alan Butcher said.

Surrey’s chances of staying up yesterday depended entirely on Scott Newman and Ramprakash, who had to take their third-wicket partnership, worth 19 overnight, to 360, and for an hour and 40 minutes they even looked as though they might do it. Then Newman went fatefully back to a ball that pitched on the left-hander’s off stump, and would have hit middle, and was palpably leg-before.

What happened after that was as inevitable as Surrey’s relegation. Ramprakash, who left Middlesex for Surrey in 2000, spent the rest of a blissful day demonstrating what might have been if they had another batsman as good and as dedicated as he is.

By mid-afternoon, he had completed his sixth hundred of the season and the 79th of his career, and just before the close he reached his tenth double-century.

He had faced 363 balls, hit two sixes and 16 fours and with Jonathan Batty and Azhar Mahmood joining him in stands of 178 and 145, Surrey could now go on to win. It would be scant consolation.