IN MANY a championship match, the loss of 73 overs on the first two days can produce little more than a tussle for bonus points. Not this one. Surrey shrugged aside the loss of playing time by inflicting an almighty walloping on Hampshire.

Having been not in the least discommoded by a sporting Rose Bowl pitch in their only innings on Wednesday and a bit of Thursday, Surrey proceeded to bowl out the home side twice in 83.2 overs. The 2002 county champions may not be quite the side they were then, but they were still plenty good enough to inflict on Hampshire their first home defeat of the season.

Harbhajan Singh, the main instrument of destruction in Hampshire’s first innings, added two more wickets after Graham Thorpe, who, amazingly, was leading Surrey throughout a match for the first time in his career, had lost little sleep before sending Hampshire in again when they had trailed by 215 on first innings. However, the leading tormentors the second time around were the quicker men.

Jimmy Ormond whipped out the top three in the Hampshire batting order, then Mohammad Akram took over at the Pavilion End and also found lift and fire in a wicket that Mike Denness, the ECB’s pitch inspector, saw no reason to blame.

Denness was right. Poor shot selection and a lack of batting wit were the main reasons for Hampshire’s downfall. John Crawley looked assured until he sashayed down the pitch to have a go at Harbhajan, missed and was bowled, but the rest barely rose above the level of the pathetic.

If suicide was their intent, they found a willing accomplice in Akram, who hit the deck with a reassuring thud to take five for 41. However, in the end Surrey’s fielding brought them victory. Harbhajan held two spectacular catches, running 20 yards to his left to pouch Michael Brown at backward square leg off Ormond and grasping another in a similar position, this time one-handed, to account for Shane Warne in the second over after lunch.

However, the best of the lot was held by somebody who did not even appear on the scoresheet. Tim Murtagh, on the field while Ormond was temporarily off stage, ended a 20-yard pelt to his right by holding a sensational, swooping effort at deep third man to dispatch Craig McMillan after a shortish ball from Akram.

“We batted and bowled very well but the little X-factor was our fielding,” Thorpe said. “We held five stunning catches today.” Steve Rixon, the Surrey coach, agreed. “We’ve been relentless in our fielding practice,” he said. “You spend half your career fielding, so you might as well do it properly.”