Tea Report: Surrey 201-5 (64 overs) v Hampshire

There was a collective inability on the part of Surrey batsmen to reach significant landmarks against a Hampshire attack lacking the bite of New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond and the guile of the departed Shane Warne.

The most prominent player to fall short of anything was Mark Ramprakash, who arrived here on 99 first class hundreds and was widely expected to become only the 25th player to score a hundred hundreds during this match.

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When Surrey won the toss and elected to bat, then lost the wicket of Jon Batty in the first over, there was a quiver of anticipation among the spectators.

But Ramprakash scratched around, taking 18 balls just to get off the mark, before finally losing his wicket on the 45th ball of his innings, having scored a meagre 17 – his lowest championship innings so far this season.

He was out playing a forward defensive shot to give rookie wicketkeeper Tom Burrows, playing in only his fifth first class match, a prized scalp.

But if Ramprakash failed to get to that magical hundred, a trio of his team-mates found they could not even reach a half century.

Opener Scott Newman became one of three Chris Tremlett victims, trying and failing to get his bat out of the way and edging the ball on to his stumps for 42.

Usman Afzaal shared in a productive 77-run stand with Mark Butcher before falling lbw to Tremlett, then the Surrey captain himself, just a single away from a half century, clipped off-spinner Greg Lamb to mid-wicket where a leaping Sean Ervine took a very good one-handed catch.

It was left to Alistair Brown to steer them to tea, on the way bringing up the 200 and Surrey’s first batting point with a straight driven four off Lamb.