Hampshire fight back after Surrey make good start

Hampshire clawed their way back into their final Frizzell County Championship Division One match of the season by taking three wickets in the final session and pinning the champions-elect Surrey to 348-7 at the close.

It looked like it was going to be another long, tough day in the field after Surrey won the toss and elected to bat on a clear, warm morning. Hampshire went into the match without skipper Robin Smith and left-armer Alan Mullally, whilst Surrey were minus all their stars but did welcome back Graham Thorpe, who has been selected for the Ashes tour despite this being his only first-class game in the last three months.

20-year-old Scott Newman, who taunted the second XI earlier in the season and collated a debut 99 against Hampshire at The Oval a fortnight ago, could not return this form as he was snapped up by James Adams off James Schofield, playing his first game in the Championship this season for just four.

But stand-in captain Ian Ward - Adam Hollioake missed this game to participate in the Rashid Memorial Game at Hove on Friday - together with Nadeem Shahid tucked into the attack, adding 197 for the second wicket.

Ward reached his fifth first-class century of the season in relatively quick time - 156 balls - while Shahid acted as a solid foil for his captain with 82.

When Schofield returned to remove Shahid and Ward was run out by a direct hit from Jimmy Adams, Surrey began to wobble. Udal bowled Thorpe for 19, and he was followed back to the pavilion by Jonathan Batty just two balls later, reducing the visitors from a solid 205-1 to a wary 239-5.

Alistair Brown curbed his normal aggression with a more circumspect 59 not out to steady the flow of wickets, although he did help himself to two sixes in his 125 ball stay.

He found an allay in Martin Bicknell (25) but Udal, who bowled once again superbly to finish the day with 3-73 from 30 overs - a huge improvement on his previous effort against the Brown Caps - dismissed him, and Ian Salisbury was quick to follow for 7.

Brown and Saqlain saw the day out, but Hampshire can be pleased with their days work, having pulled the game back in after it could so easily have gone away, like it did at Hove last week.