Surrey need five Hampshire wickets on final day
- The stakes are high! Surrey is on the hunt for five Hampshire wickets on the final day of the match. Stay tuned for an intense cricket showdown as the battle for victory unfolds.
At the Kia Oval, Hampshire survived to play Surrey, the defending champions, but they still face a crushing loss having lost three top-order wickets in the 32 overs that were eventually bowled after rain overnight and early in the morning.
On the abbreviated third day of their County Championship match, Hampshire collapsed to 116-5 after falling down by 177 runs at 31-2 in their second inning.
After Nick Gubbins was lost early, James Vince and Tom Prest fought back for 20 overs in a tough 46-run stand before being removed within four balls of each other.
Prest had only added a single when he fell for 23—again caught in front of his face by Ollie Pope, who had dropped him head-high at second slip off Gus Atkinson on 22.
After being hit on the shoulder by a wicked Atkinson lifter, Vince needed medical care on the pitch. He made it to 26 before being leg-beforeed by Kemar Roach’s inswinger, which put Hampshire’s second inning in serious difficulty at 87-5.
Ironically, considering the early morning cloud cover, the entire one-hour session was played in brilliant sunshine. However, by the time Liam Dawson, who was at 18 and not out, and Ben Brown, who was unbeaten at seven, completed the last overs, Surrey’s seamers were still dominating. This was because the Oval floodlights were now on.
After heavy overnight rain had ruined any chance of cricket before lunch and more light showers in the early afternoon had postponed further mopping up operations, play had finally started at 16:30 BST.
Daniel Worrall, however, needed just ten balls to add to his victory over Ali Orr overnight. Gubbins edged one that was angled over him to second slip, where Pope dropped to his right to collect a nice low catch.
Prest buckled down and soon reached double figures, scoring driving fours off Worrall and Jordan Clark. For more than an hour, he and Vince tried their hardest to withstand Surrey’s four-pronged pace onslaught.
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