The familiar sight of a Hampshire batting collapse welcomed Dimitri Mascarenhas back to the Rose Bowl.
Mascarenhas is playing his third Championship match of the season after missing last week's draw against Somerset at Taunton because of his Indian Premier League commitments.
But he could do little to stop his side slide from 146-2 to 174-7 in overcast conditions yesterday.
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After Michael Brown and Michael Lumb had done the hard part by putting on a second-wicket stand of 133, Hampshire lost five wickets for 28 runs.
Bad light brought play to an early close, with Hampshire 204-7, still 74 runs behind Surrey's first-innings total.
There had been no addition to Hampshire's overnight score of 13-1 when Jimmy Adams was caught behind for an 11-ball duck.
But Brown and Lumb combined to good effect.
Lumb was dropped on 30 by a diving Chris Jordan at second slip. But he and Brown were otherwise untroubled before Jordan triggered an all-too-familiar collapse by dismissing the pair in successive overs during the afternoon session.
After surviving a shout for caught behind in avoiding a Jordan bouncer, Brown (66) nicked the Barbadian's next ball, an away swinger, during a devastating spell from the Surrey teenager.
At 19, all-rounder Jordan is one of the best prospects on the county circuit.
He is yet to decide whether to pledge his future to England or his native West Indies but is content to trouble county batsmen for now.
After seeing off Brown during a seven-over spell of 2-18, he troubled Chris Benham with a bouncer.
Benham top-edged an attempted hook in the direction of backward square leg and wicketkeeper Jon Batty nearly held on after a 40-yard sprint.
In his next over, all-rounder Jordan pinned Lumb (60) with an inswinger, the left-hander's 11th lbw dismissal in 20 Championship innings.
Hampshire's collapse continued when Benham (1) was bowled by a Saqlain Mushtaq doosra.
Mascarenhas was understandably rusty after one eight-ball Indian Premier League innings in the last three weeks.
He needed a breather after being struck on the chest by a Jordan bouncer and then chipped a straightforward return catch to Saqlain Mushtaq after facing 15 balls for his two runs.
Hampshire's collapse had the helter-skelter feel of an IPL game and was complete when Sean Ervine was bowled via an inside edge after a loose drive against left-arm quick Pedro Collins in the penultimate over before tea.
A responsible and unbroken eighth-wicket partnership of 30 between Greg Lamb (24*) and Tom Burrows (6*), who is showing maturity in his fourth Championship appearance, took Hampshire to a first batting bonus point before the early close.
Posted by: aussie fango, melbourne, australia on 1:58pm Thu 15 May 08
today is the day lumby will come thru for us and get a ton! can anyone tell me when shane bond will be back from injury so he can play again and get injured? please tell me why we have signed the most injured bowler ever to play the game? and why cant we sign any players on kolpak contracts?
today is the day lumby will come thru for us and get a ton! can anyone tell me when shane bond will be back from injury so he can play again and get injured? please tell me why we have signed the most injured bowler ever to play the game? and why cant we sign any players on kolpak contracts?
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