SURREY HAVE THEIR NOSES IN FRONT AFTER AN UP AND DOWN DAY by Marcus Hook
Hampshire 227 v Surrey 278 & 151-7.

Should the rain and heavy cloud cover forecast for Southampton today fail to materialise, this contest may well head towards a dramatic conclusion; especially if the eighth wicket stand between Matt Nicholson and Jimmy Ormond, which is currently worth 76, push on to three figures. Surrey's lead of 202 may not look like much, but on a pitch that has yielded just one individual innings over fifty, few sides would fancy chasing a target in excess of 250.

After resuming their first innings at 204-7, Hampshire lost Lamb in the ninth over of the day when he edged Jordan on to his middle and off stumps. Five overs later Tomlinson's off stump was sent cartwheeling by Collins. But, to the surprise of virtually everyone at the Rose Bowl, Chris Tremlett failed to emerge from the dressing room. Consequently, Surrey went into their second dig with a 51-run advantage.

Newman announced himself by flicking Tomlinson through mid-wicket for four, but, with the left-hander departing to the very next ball, Ramprakash once again took guard in the first over of the Surrey innings in search of his hundredth first-class hundred.

Batty got off a pair with an edged four to third man before driving assuredly to the long-off boundary, but in the seventh over he was leg before to a ball from Mascarenhas that appeared to keep low. It was also possible that Batty failed to see the ball clearly in the murky conditions, for the light was offered to just one delivery later and the batsmen had no hesitation in accepting the umpires' invitation.

When play resumed after lunch, Ramprakash was lbw in the tenth over; at which point Surrey's lead was eighty. Five overs later it became 116 when Butcher flashed Tomlinson hard to third man, then hit the left-arm seamer straight down the ground for two further fours.

The Brown Caps' progress was arrested when Ervine was introduced in the seventeenth over, which saw Butcher become the third batsman in a row to fall leg before. Two overs later the former Zimbabwe all-rounder found some extra bounce, which accounted for Brown, caught behind for nought, and in the 23rd Burrows held on to a brilliant catch low to his left to see the back of Afzaal.

Ervine's spell read 7-2-13-3. With Jordan going in the next over, caught at third slip by Benham off Tomlinson, the visitors were just 126 ahead with three second innings wickets remaining. But thanks to Nicholson and Ormond's unbeaten alliance, which is now 23 overs old, the game was in the balance when, at 5.00pm, bad light drew the third day to an early conclusion.

GO TO:

BACK TO: