SOUTHAMPTON

(Day two of four; Surrey won toss)

Surrey 278; Hampshire 204 for 7

Lunch

Jimmy Ormond, who had dismissed Michael Carberry in his single over with the new ball on the first evening, struck again in his second over this morning when he had Jimmy Adams caught behind for a duck.

That left Hampshire in some bother at 13 for 2 in reply to Surrey’s 278, but Michael Lumb joined Michael Brown in a third wicket partnership which by lunch was worth 87.

Lumb had one moment of good fortune, on 30, when he nibbled at a ball from Pedro Collins and saw Chris Jordan, at second slip, put down a difficult chance as he dived across in front of Mark Butcher at first slip and could not cling on with his outstretched right hand.

Brown, well-organised and compact at the crease, played with good judgement to reach 47 not out by the interval, once clipping Collins beautifully off his pads for four, while Lumb gratefully seized on short deliveries from Jordan and Collins to pull a couple of powerful boundaries in his unbeaten 34.

Tea

The two Michaels, Brown and Lumb, took their third wicket stand to 133 in 43 hard-working overs before Chris Jordan dismissed them both in successive overs.

Brown had reached 66, in three hours and 23 minutes of application, when his concentration at last let him down. Fencing at a ball outside off stump, he thin-edged to Jon Batty.

Lumb’s 60, which had taken 118 balls to Brown’s 159, ended when he fell across his crease and was lbw in the pacy 19-year old Jordan’s next over.

Suddenly, Surrey were right back in the match, and off spinner Saqlain Mushtaq – by now well into a lengthy, controlled spell from the Pavilion End – further boosted Mark Butcher’s team by beating Chris Benham’s forward push and then, four overs later, catching a loose drive by Dimitri Mascarenhas off his own bowling.

Sean Ervine was next to go, clean bowled for 15 driving at Collins, who had been brought back to replace Jordan, and Hampshire staggered into the tea interval after losing five wickets for just 28 runs. It could have been even worse, too, had Alastair Brown held on at backward square leg to a lifted sweep at Saqlain by Greg Lamb, on five.

Close

Butcher continued with Collins and Saqlain operating in tandem after tea, as Surrey strived to wrap up the faltering Hampshire innings.

Lamb and Tom Burrows, however, dug in and when bad light intervened had taken Hampshire on to 204 for 7. Lamb, to his credit, looked determined to take advantage of being dropped just before tea and had reached 24 by the time the players left the field.

They did not return, either, as light rain too began to fall, cutting short the day by 26 overs and leaving Lamb and Burrows to fight another day for a first innings parity that could be vital in a game unlikely to be high-scoring.