Spinners Felix Organ and Liam Dawson pushed Hampshire to defeat Surrey in the Vitality County Championship game at Utilita Bowl.
Off-spinner Organ claimed his third career five-for with leg-armer Dawson picking up four for 45 to give Hampshire an innings and 278-run victory, their first home win of the campaign.
It was Surrey’s fourth defeat since the start of 2022 – with two of those coming after they had already secured their back-to-back crowns – with Essex and Somerset hot on their heels at the summit of Division One.
Surrey were given a minimum of 172 overs to avoid an innings defeat, and got through to the 17th over unscathed but from then on wickets fell regularly.
For the spin-fest that followed, the first man to fall, Rory Burns, departed to pace as Keith Barker found the Surrey captain edging to first slip.
From then on, it was Dawson piling in the pressure and Organ celebrating with his usual exuberance.
Dom Sibley had navigated 85 deliveries before an inside edge onto his pad ballooned to silly mid-on, before Organ produced a wicked off-spinner to pin back Ollie Pope’s middle stump.
Jamie Smith was his next victim as a change-up delivery slid into middle and off stumps.
Dan Lawrence took a different approach from his defence-minded team-mates as he reverse swept his first ball to the boundary before switching to the opposite rope with a conventional sweep next delivery.
His attacking got him up to 42, but his knock was over when he chopped Organ onto his stumps.
Having spent the best part of two days laying on the physio’s table with back spasms, Ben Foakes’ innings was heroic in his resolve. The England wicket-keeper faced 107 balls for his unbeaten 19.
But wickets continued to clatter, with Dawson now taking the limelight. Cam Steel was brilliantly caught at first slip by Vince after a deflection off Ben Brown’s gloves before Jordan Clark was yorked.
Organ got his five-for when Sean Abbott chipped to mid on, before Dawson closed out Hampshire’s second win in a row by bowling Gus Atkinson around his legs and, after some slapping around, Dan Worrall skied for 48. The visitors were bowled out for 203.
Earlier, Ben Brown, on 99 overnight, carted the first ball of the day to the boundary to reach his 24th first-class century, and second since arriving from Sussex.
It meant that Hampshire had three centurions in a single innings for the 14th time in their history, and first at Utilita Bowl.
Hampshire were all-out attack to send their lead sky-high but it meant Liam Dawson tickled a ramp behind to end a 183-run stand with Brown – a county record for the fifth wicket against Surrey, to go alongside a record second wicket partnership earlier in the innings.
Michael Neser hoicked to deep square but James Fuller joined up with Brown to put on 66 – the fifth 50-plus stand of the innings – with the pair dragging weary boundary riders at their will.
Brown – who had played a number of outrageous short-arm jabs on the off and on sides, to and over the boundary – passed his highest first-class score to end 165 not out before James Vince declared with his side 481 runs ahead.
