Yesterday’s sensational final hour saw Surrey, or to be more precise, Harbhajan Singh lay waste to Hampshire, who collapsed from 107 for three to 146 all out in the space of just seventeen overs to hand the visitors a commanding 215-run lead on first innings. With the pitch showing rapid deterioration, Shane Warne’s men will need to conjure up something Herculean today and tomorrow if they are to preserve their unbeaten home record in this year’s County Championship.

Last night the only thing Surrey had to worry about was whether to enforce the follow-on, or to make best use of what the conditions still have to offer the batsmen. With the weather forecast pointing to nothing but blue skies, the clever money must be on Harbhajan picking up where he left off in last night’s gloom to take six for 36 for his new employers.

Hampshire’s collapse was a rapid as it was dramatic. It would not be true to say that Benham and McMillan looked at home during the period immediately after tea, which saw the demise of Michael Brown, who top-edged the second ball he received following the interval to mid-on, and John Crawley, who was snapped up at short-leg off bat and pad. However, neither could one have foreseen the procession of batsmen to and fro from the Pavilion and back again.

Only the 22-year-old Chris Benham showed any real application, which will be of some small consolation to the Hampshire followers. The upright right-hander, who featured in his county’s eight-wicket volte face against the Surrey 2nd XI at Wimbledon last week, struck a mature 41 off 91 balls, including seven fours.

Things started to turn sour for the hosts when Craig McMillan tried to charge Harbhajan, only to be emphatically stumped by Jonathan Batty, who, in so doing, beat his own Surrey record of 20 successive first-class innings with at least one dismissal. That was in the 33rd over.

Four overs later the Indian off-spinner had Greg Lamb caught at short gully. Benham, who had a let off when 27, followed in the 39th over when his aim to leg caught the edge and was snapped up by Alistair Brown at slip. Sean Ervine was the next to go, caught off the glove, and it was not long before Nic Pothas had been lured into the drive by Jimmy Ormond, who, by that time, was mixing seam with spin in order to avoid the light being offered to the batsmen.

Shane Warne, having just been caught at mid-off off a no-ball, was attempting to play forcefully when he had his off-stump plucked out. Chris Tremlett then took the first boundary off Harbhajan for seven overs and struck a straight six before Ormond wrapped up proceedings with an unplayable leg stump yorker to Billy Taylor.

When play finally got under way at 2.30pm, following the loss of 45 overs, Surrey added 35 to their overnight score in 5.4 overs, losing Dominic Thornely for a 90-ball 73 and Harbhajan Singh in the process. After Thornely tucked in to Tremlett’s left-arm seam, the bowler had the last laugh when he penetrated the aggressive 26-year-old’s defences with one that nipped back off the seam. The following over saw Harbhajan depart to an equally mischievous delivery from Ervine.

By tea the home side had progressed to 63 for one in nineteen overs. Jimmy Adams’s vague innings was mercifully brought to an end by Martin Bicknell in the fifth over, but then Benham and Brown, in particular, settled themselves in, albeit watchfully. At one point, however, Michael Brown launched Bicknell straight down the ground for a maximum.

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