SOMERSET'S conqueror Kyle Abbott has admitted he "wanted to spoil the party" following his incredible performance which dented the visitors' hopes of a first ever County Championship title.

Abbott took match figures of 17-86 (9-40 in the first innings, 8-46 in the second) - the best ever by a Hampshire bowler and the best in the Championship for 80 years.

And the South African seamer admitted he was partly motivated by an ambition to halt Somerset's title charge as a measure of revenge for May's Royal London One-Day Cup final, which saw Somerset beat Hampshire at Lord's.

Abbott said: “It hasn’t quite sunk in. It is pretty incredible. Yesterday I didn’t think I’d take nine and I didn’t think I’d take eight today.

“I reckon that is the best I can bowl. Everything I wanted to do worked. It just happened to be one of those days – it was incredible.

“When it started to reverse it got quite fun. We knew we had to get into their middle order and put pressure on them as 280 was a long way off.

“At 86-0 we were just thinking if we get one of the openers and the captain that was the goal.

“They were under huge pressure, they are young guys searching for their first championship; we had nothing to lose.

“Would I prefer to finish third or spoil Somerset’s party? I wanted to spoil the party by a long way.

"They celebrated against us at the Royal London One-Day Cup final so we wanted to give them some hard work for next week against Essex.

“It only takes one or two balls to think that I’m in it. Once I hit my length at my optimum speed then from there it puts my mind in a different space. As soon as I pick up that feel it started to click – I had that every over in this game.

“The Tom Abell wicket today was my favourite wicket. We wanted to target him.”

Abell said his side would "dust themselves down" ahead of next week's title decider against Essex in Taunton, which will see the visitors start with a 12-point lead at the top.