RIVERSIDE (second day of four): Hampshire, with ten second-innings wickets in hand, are 364 runs ahead of Durham
WAS Shane Warne being cautious or hard-hearted when he opted not to enforce the follow-on yesterday? His Hampshire side were 230 ahead and Durham’s first-innings 195 had not given much indication that the home team were likely to do much better the second time around.
Perhaps the simple answer was that the Hampshire captain simply could not be bothered to come out and field gain, albeit that his side had only been extended for 58 overs. In a sense, he was also demonstrating that Hampshire can win this game any way they play it.
That mentality was also hinted at when Warne delayed his arrival at the bowling crease until Durham were 144 for six. A pitch that had started very dry was rapidly losing pace, frustrating the batsmen as much as the quicker bowlers, but inevitably bringing wickets. And also, one would have thought, offering something to the Australian leg spinner.
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But he was not needed. Durham kept establishing modest partnerships only for the inevitable ill-executed stroke, or a misbehaving ball, to bring about another dismissal. Hampshire did not need to bowl particularly well — and neither did Warne when his turn came.
In his first over he induced the dangerous Phil Mustard to lift a sweep into the hands of backward square leg. After that came the best partnership of the innings, for the tenth wicket, as Ottis Gibson and Mick Lewis added 44 with little difficulty, not least against Warne. They were five runs short of 200 and a single batting point when Gibson lifted a short ball from Warne to mid-on.
Hampshire’s second innings started remarkably slowly but gradually developed into a sedate 100-run opening stand.