McManus stands up to Meaker’s challenge

Hampshire 398 for 9 (McManus 117*, Wheater 59, Ervine 52, Footitt 3-62) trail Surrey 637 for 7 dec by 239 runsScorecard

In situations like today at the Ageas Bowl, both sides go through their own toil. Surrey begin looking to whittle away 18 more chances. Hampshire’s batsmen preparing to concentrate on and forget each delivery. Ticking off the arrears from the start of play wouldn’t work: you can lose your way counting down from 564.

But with 15 minutes gone, both overnight batsmen had perished to the part-time leg spin of Dom Sibley. With Zafar Ansari absent from the field with a back injury – Surrey are awaiting the results of the scan – and with their batsmen relaying to their spinners that turn was available from wide, Gareth Batty gave the ball to Sibley to get spin into the left-handers. Ryan McLaren was trapped with the day’s first ball before Tom Alsop drove loosely to Jason Roy at first slip. 

That Surrey had made early inroads was an unexpected bonus. But they had prepared for a long slog. Before they took the field, coach Michael Di Venuto implored persistence, patience and other virtues that come in handy when trench work is on the horizon. “I may have thrown in a few swear words there, too.” 

For a while, it looked like they might just get away with grass stains and the odd scraped joint, as wickets fell at quick enough intervals to keep them on track. Adam Wheater and Sean Ervine put on 102 for the fifth wicket – Wheater going to his fifty with three pristinely timed fours through the off side in …

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