Kyle Abbott struggling to come to terms with 17-wicket haul against Somerset: "That is the best I can bowl"

The remarkable figures are the best in first-class cricket since Jim Laker's 19-90 for England against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956 and the best ever by a Hampshire bowler

Kyle Abbott cannot believe his own record-breaking antics at the Ageas Bowl.

The Hampshire seamer added eight second-innings wickets to the nine he claimed in the first innings, finishing with 17-86 in the match, as Somerset were defeated by 136 runs in Southampton.

The remarkable figures are the best in first-class cricket since Jim Laker's 19-90 for England against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956 and the best ever by a Hampshire bowler.

And in the immediate aftermath of his performance, he admitted to not being able to explain how he'd done it.

"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," Abbott said.

"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.

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"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."

Abbott's display has given Essex a huge opportunity to steal the title from Somerset's grasp, with rain expected to play a major part in the top two's meeting in the final round of fixtures next week.

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