Hampshire v Surrey LVCC Day 3 16th May

ECB Match Report

Sean Ervine ripped out Surrey’s middle order but Hampshire still missed injured strike bowler Chris Tremlett as the visitors recovered their composure at The Rose Bowl.

Ervine saw off Mark Butcher, Ali Brown and Usman Afzaal in only 17 balls for one run as the visitors collapsed to 75 for seven at one stage of their second innings on day three.

By the time bad light brought an early close shortly after tea, though, an unbroken stand of 76 between tailenders Matt Nicholson and Jimmy Ormond had put this intriguing LV Division One match back in the balance.

The overall lead was 202, setting up the prospect of a close finish should forecast bad weather fail to materialise.

Surrey, who had finished off Hampshire for 227 in the first hour of a cloudy morning, began again with obvious prospects of pushing for a match-winning position with Tremlett out of the equation.

The England fast bowler - who took 5-67 on the first day - was unable to bat because of back spasms and then was not available for his main duty either.

But his absence was not sorely felt as Ervine, James Tomlinson and Dimitri Mascarenhas made short work of the opposition’s frontline batting.

Surrey lost two wickets in half an hour before bad light brought an early lunch, Scott Newman edging Tomlinson to third slip and Jonathan Batty lbw to Mascarenhas from the penultimate ball of a gloomy session.

Mark Ramprakash had come to the crease in the first over for the second time in the match - but again did not last long in pursuit of his 100th first-class hundred.

His was the first wicket of the afternoon when he got a big stride in against Mascarenhas but still became the Hampshire captain’s second lbw victim.

From 29 for three, Butcher and Afzaal’s left-handed alliance looked likely to bail out Surrey until the former also went lbw - aiming across Ervine’s full length, the first of four wickets to fall for only 10 runs.

In his next over, Ervine (3-26) had new batsman Brown caught behind without scoring - and young wicketkeeper Tom Burrows dived to his left to get rid of Afzaal when the Zimbabwean medium-pacer found the edge again.

Chris Jordan struggled 18 balls for just two runs before fencing a catch to third slip off Tomlinson, who appeared to have run out of puff by the time he was replaced by Ervine at the pavilion end but returned from the opposite direction with renewed vigour.

Ormond and Nicholson therefore needed to eke out something to bowl at - and they batted sensibly to level this contest up again as Tremlett’s inactivity began to prove costly after all.

Hampshire had begun the day by extending a stubborn and handy eighth-wicket stand of 43 between Greg Lamb and Burrows.

Jordan (3-50) eventually had Lamb edging on to his stumps, and Pedro Collins bowled last man Tomlinson with an oustwinger.

But the runs already added would take on a new significance once Surrey’s batting faltered on a pitch which has favoured the pace bowlers throughout.

Although the outcome is very much in doubt, Ervine could be heartened by his own performance as he continues his ongoing rehabilitation after the serious injury in his left knee which required surgery three years ago.

The 25-year-old ex-Test all-rounder found his progress interrupted and has been battling to regain his best form ever since.

“It’s something I’ve been trying to work on for a while now - getting more consistency and having more control and balance at the crease,” he said.

“It’s slowly coming back to how I was bowling very successfully in 2005.”

Ervine, who also plays for Western Australia, believes he is on his way back to realising his full potential.

“This is probably the best I’ve felt while I’ve been here in the UK,” he said. “There have been some other spells in Australia which I’ve felt really good about.”

As for Hampshire’s prospects, Ervine is cautiously optimistic - and not entirely regretful of the fact he and his fellow seamers could not finish off the Surrey innings.

“We could have done with another one or two wickets,” he said. “But our batters probably wouldn’t have liked it to have had to go out there for 10 overs and face the music in those conditions.”

Surrey 278 & 151/7 (50.0 ov)
Hampshire 227

Scorecard

On Saturday 17th Day 4, the match starts at 11:00am and gates open at 9:30am

Tickets are available on the gate at £15 per adult (£12 Senior/student) and £15 per junior.

Car Parking available on site priced £7 per vehicle.

BBC London are providing ball by ball commentary on each of the four days. To listen tune in from eleven every morning by clicking on the link below

BBC London Listen Live

If you want to watch exclusive highlights of every day's play click here

Match highlights are courtesy of Surrey TV and will be available approximately 90 minutes after the close of play on each day.