The man in the Hampshire tie in the Robin Smith Bar had a quizzical air about him. “The thing is,” he confided in subdued tones, as if addressing his physician, “I have never seen Ben Stokes bat. So I want to see him do well, but not too well, if you get my drift.”
We got his drift and, so it seems, did Stokes, for the England all-rounder scored fifty without damaging the morale of the Hampshire bowlers unduly, and then dutifully got himself out, top-edging his pull to backward square-leg. He hit just three fours.
It was one of three half-centuries from Durham batsmen as Hampshire continued in their quest to avoid relegation by the skin of their clenched teeth for the second time in as many seasons.
They went into the game knowing they had to win and collect 22 points to be certain of first division survival and they are on course for that, as they cast nervous eyes in the direction of the Warwickshire v Lancashire match at Edgbaston.
Hampshire had resumed on 370 for six and went on to collect maximum batting points with a minimum of fuss. They scored their fifth point when Lewis McManus, aiming to hit Scott Borthwick to deep midwicket, found the third man boundary instead, with a thick top edge.
Liam Dawson was lbw for 62 when he got one from Graham Onions that jagged back at him and kept low. Gareth Berg, pushing forward, was caught at second slip by Paul Collingwood off the same bowler, Mason Crane was bowled through the gate playing an indifferent stroke, again against Onions, and finally McManus slogged Borthwick to deep midwicket.
When Hampshire bowled they appeared to get more out of the pitch than Durham had managed to. Berg was superb, repeatedly beating the bat with his nippy movement, so it was a surprise that he ended up with just one wicket in the day. But Hampshire, like Durham before them, invested more heavily in spin. It spun all day, but not more sharply than it had on the opening day. Unless the leg-spinner Crane was bowling, of course.
Crane, 19, gave it a rip that would have earned nods of approval from another Hampshire leggie, Shane Warne. Rejected by Sussex as a youngster, he came to Hampshire and in his second championship match had figures of five for 35 against Warwickshire. England’s talent-spotters, no slouches these days, already have him pencilled in for big deeds in the future.
Durham lost the prolific Keaton Jennings for just a single, lbw to Berg shouldering arms. The other wicket to fall before lunch, when Durham were 44 for two, was that of Borthwick, who was caught behind attempting to cut Brad Wheal’s first delivery of the game.
The left-arm spinner Dawson, like Crane, was partially neutralised by the high number of left-handers in the Durham side. But Dawson broke through in his first over after the break when Mark Stoneman – like Borthwick bound for Surrey next season – jumped down the pitch and hit the ball straight to Jimmy Adams at a rather short midwicket.
That brought in Stokes, who became more careworn after watching Graham Clark be caught behind off Dawson and then his captain, Paul Collingwood, caught at slip off Crane; 137 for five.
Stokes threatened to get stuck into Crane when he block-drove a near yorker through mid-on for four and hit a short ball through midwicket for another boundary in the same over. But he was sixth out at 183 and two overs later Ryan Pringle produced a short-arm pull off Wheal and was caught at backward-square. That was 186 for seven but then Michael Richardson (50) and Brydon Carse (30) took them to 242 at the close without further loss. Hampshire have work to do still.
