Surrey turn the screw on truncated day at the Oval

Report

Hampshire are staring at an innings defeat despite facing just 32 overs on day three

Kemar Roach took the vital wicket of Hampshire skipper James Vince  •  Getty Images

Hampshire 151 and 116 for 5 (Vince 26, Worrall 2-30, Roach 2-31) trail Surrey 359 (Burns 113, Clark 106*) by 92 runs

Hampshire lived to fight another day against champions Surrey at the Kia Oval, but are still facing heavy defeat after losing three top-order wickets in the 32 overs eventually bowled in south London following overnight and early morning rain.

Resuming 177 runs behind at 31 for 2 in their second innings, Hampshire slid further to 116 for 5 on the shortened third day of their Vitality County Championship fixture – still a deficit of 92.

James Vince and Tom Prest were dismissed within four balls of each other after resisting for 20 overs in a gritty 46-run stand following the early loss of Nick Gubbins, caught in the cordon off Dan Worrall.

Prest, dropped head-high by Ollie Pope at second slip off Gus Atkinson on 22, had added only a single when he fell for 23 – this time caught in front of his face by Pope as he pushed hard at a ball from Atkinson that shaped away from its original line just outside off stump.

And then former England Test batsman Vince, who reached 26 after resuming on four not out, was beaten by an in-swinger from Kemar Roach and departed leg-before to leave Hampshire’s second innings in real trouble at 87 for 5.

Surrey’s reaction to his dismissal underlined just how important they felt getting the Hampshire captain out was after Vince had punctuated some assiduous defence with a number of quality strokes, including an early clipped four off his pads off Jordan Clark and a lovely back foot force to the square cover boundary off Atkinson.

Vince had also showed grit following some on-field attention from the Hampshire physio after being struck a glancing blow on the shoulder by a vicious Atkinson lifter when on 21.

Ironically, given the early gloom of the day, most of the single session had been played in bright sunshine but the Oval floodlights were on by the time Liam Dawson, on 18 not out, and Ben Brown, unbeaten on seven, saw out the final overs with Surrey’s seamers still very much on top.

Play had finally begun at 4.30pm after heavy overnight rain had ruled out any prospect of cricket before lunch and then further light showers in early afternoon had delayed further mopping up operations.

But it took Worrall only ten balls to add to his overnight scalp of Ali Orr, with Gubbins edging one angled across him to second slip, where Pope fell to his right to scoop up a fine low catch.

Gubbins, out for 10, had added only four runs and Prest was beaten first up by a brute of a delivery from Worrall, which lifted and left him, when he came in on a king pair.

To his credit, though, Prest knuckled down and was soon into double figures with driven fours off Clark and Worrall as he and Vince did their best, for over an hour, to defy Surrey’s four-pronged pace attack.