Hampshire Bowlers Battle Well On Tightly Contested Day One

Brad Wheal took two wickets and Liam Dawson made a successful return to Hampshire action as Surrey scored 260-6 in the Specsavers County Championship on an opening day affected by bad light at the Kia Oval.

Wheal claimed the key wicket of Rory Burns (101) after Gareth Berg and Gareth Andrew had taken the sting out of Surrey's top order by removing Dominic Sibley (11) and Kumar Sangakkara (26) in the morning session.

Having made his England ODI debut on Sunday, Dawson marked his Hampshire return by removing Sam Curran (17) at the end of an evenly contested first day before bad light wiped out the final 16 overs of play.  

After an uncontested toss, Berg took advantage of a seaming pitch by bowling two maidens and supplying an early wicket for Hampshire, finding an edge from Dominic Sibley (11) which carried to the hands of Lewis McManus, diving full-length to his left.

Andrew took Hampshire’s second and final wicket of the morning session, crucially dismissing Kumar Sangakkara after the experienced Sri Lankan batsman hit a series of boundaries to take Surrey past fifty and reach 26 off 31 balls.

Brad Wheal made his mark in an afternoon session briefly interrupted by bad light at the Kia Oval, taking a smart catch to remove Arun Harinath (9) off Ryan McLaren, and dismissing Stephen Davies for 32.

At tea, Surrey were 189-4 and marginally on top at the Oval, despite the regular threat of McLaren and Wheal, with the option of Liam Dawson’s spin still to come.

Surrey’s opening batsman Rory Burns became the key target for Hampshire’s bowlers, having escaped their early pressure to reach 100 and take the home side beyond 200 for four wickets, surpassing 5,000 first-class runs along the way.

After Dawson was introduced after tea, Wheal finally found the breakthrough as Burns was caught smartly by Tom Alsop at short leg to end a 76-run stand for the fifth wicket, which ended with Surrey 220-5.    

Dawson, who took two wickets in an England shirt on Sunday, supplied Hampshire's final wicket of the day, as Alsop took another catch close in and Sam Curran walked for 17 before bad light wiped out the final 16 overs of the day, which is finely poised going into day two.