Dawson Impresses Whilst Bailey Leads Recovery On Day Two

Liam Dawson claimed four wickets, whilst George Bailey led the Hampshire recovery on day two of their Spescavers County Championship clash with Surrey at the The Ageas Bowl.

Both Dawson (4-22) and Fidel Edwards (3-70) bowled superbly as Surrey were dismissed for just 200 inside two sessions.

Bailey (51) played a superbly mature innings by helping his side rebuild from 31-5, with good support coming from Ian Holland (34*) with the hosts ending the day on 129-7.

Kyle Abbott (2-31) got Hampshire off to a brilliant start to the day, luring Rory Burns (12) into a drive in just the second over, edging to James Vince in the slips.

The wickets continued to fall as Edwards removed Scott Borthwick (0) before Abbott trapped Jason Roy (0) in front in the space of seven deliveries as Surrey collapsed from 25-0 to 35-3, rewarding Hampshire with their first bowling point.

Ryan Patel and Ben Foakes steadied the ship, progressing the visitors past 50, as Hampshire introduced both Gareth Berg and Holland to the attack in search of more wickets.

The pair brought up the fifty partnership in the 25^th over, before spin was introduced for the first time in the match as the visitors edged towards three figures.

However, Foakes (47) fell short of his half-century when he struck a Dawson delivery straight to Vince at mid-wicket to end a fourth-wicket partnership worth 74 runs.

Patel moved to his maiden first-class half-century with his sixth boundary of his 99-ball innings, and alongside Ollie Pope, the pair guided Surrey to 123-4 at lunch.

The duo then brought up the fifty partnership shortly afterwards, but a crucial breakthrough soon came courtesy of Dawson in the 14^th over of the session, when Pope (13) slashed the ball straight to Bailey at mid-wicket to end an important stand.

Edwards returned with a sublime spell of bowling to claim the prized wicket of Patel (81), before ripping the off-stump of Clarke (12) out of the ground.

Dawson also claimed his third wicket of the innings, with Gareth Batty (2) the next man to fall as Surrey lost four wickets in 39 balls, collapsing from 163-4 to 183-8.

Edwards was then replaced by Berg (1-34), and the seamer made an instant impact, clean bowling Curran (12) with his first ball of his spell as Hampshire claimed their third bowling point.

Stuart Meaker (3*) and Jade Dernbach (5) guided Surrey to a batting point by moving beyond 200 before the latter offered Dawson a simple return catch as the final six wickets fell for 38 runs.

Hampshire got off to a cautious start in reply with Dernbach claiming the scalps of Joe Weatherley (1) and Tom Alsop (0) in successive overs to reduce the hosts to 14-2 in the sixth over.

Jimmy Adams (14) remained watchful and punished any bad balls, but the batsman became the third wicket to fall, with Curran picking up his first wicket to leave Hampshire in a precarious position.

The wickets continued to fall, when Curran claimed the scalps of Vince (10) and Sean Ervine (0) in the space of four balls as the hosts fell to 31-5 and in need of a partnership.

Bailey and Dawson (9) steadied the innings, guiding their side past 50, but it was soon 60-6 when the latter fell flicking it into the leg-side, with Pope taking a good catch diving forwards.

Ian Holland came in and took the initiative, hitting a flurry of boundaries to help his side move clear of trouble whilst forming an important stand with Bailey.

The latter was playing a captain’s innings, and moved his side into three figures with a well-timed pull shot before the stand for the seventh-wicket moved beyond fifty, with Holland crunching hitting back-to-back boundaries.

The Hampshire captain then brought up a brilliant half-century off 81 balls, but fell moments later to Batty as the seventh wicket stand of 69 runs came to end with a few overs left in the day.

Holland (34*) remained unbeaten to end the day though as the hosts reached stumps on 129-7, a further 71 runs behind Surrey’s first innings total.