Warne in umpire row as Newman hits century

Surrey 326-8 Hampshire

Shane Warne, the Hampshire captain, was involved in an on-pitch bust-up with Alan Whitehead yesterday after the umpire turned down a lusty appeal by the bowler Billy Taylor for a catch behind in the fourth over of the innings.

Shane Warne, the Hampshire captain, was involved in an on-pitch bust-up with Alan Whitehead yesterday after the umpire turned down a lusty appeal by the bowler Billy Taylor for a catch behind in the fourth over of the innings.

The bowler's disappointment and frustration was evident, and at the end of the over Warne and Whitehead exchanged words as each moved into position for the next over.

There was a great deal of finger-pointing and arm-waving, but Whitehead - who later spoke to Alan Fordham, the England and Wales Cricket Board's cricket operations manager (First Class) - refused to make any comment.

If reported, Warne, who received three disciplinary points after a clash with Somerset's Peter Bowler last season, could find himself in hot water. So in an effort to avoid his being reported to Lord's for his confrontation, he and Whitehead were believed to have been called together at the close of play to try to iron out their differences.

The upshot of all that, though, was that the Surrey opener Scott Newman, who was on 14 at the time of the appeal against him, went on to reach three figures, his fourth hundred in eight innings. Newman had two further pieces of luck during his innings: dropped at cover on 78; and missed behind eight runs later. When he fell after almost three hours there was not a ripple of applause.

The one truly productive stand of the day was for the first wicket, for which Newman and his fellow left-hander Richard Clinton piled up exactly 100 runs, although right at the end the Australian Dominic Thornely, the temporary stand-in for Azhar Mahmood, thumped an unbeaten 70-ball 50.

None of the other Surrey big shots was able to get going. Shorn of the team's captain and run-machine Mark Ramprakash, even his stand-in, Graham Thorpe, desperate to get runs with the Ashes series looming, lasted just 21 balls.

Rikki Clarke, Alistair Brown and Jon Batty also failed to hang around and the second-placed Hampshire took control of affairs.