It took champions Surrey only 30.2 overs on the final day to wrap up a comprehensive victory by an innings and 11 runs against Hampshire at The Kia Oval.
Dan Worrall finished with an impressive five for 47 as Hampshire, dismissed first time around for 151 on day one, were bowled out again for 197. And Ollie Pope equalled the Surrey record for the most outfield catches in a first-class match, pouching three more at second slip to give himself six in the innings and eight in the game.
Surrey’s thumping win, their second of the new Vitality County Championship season, would have been completed well inside three days had a total of 84 overs not been lost to bad weather on the second and third days.
Hampshire, resuming their second innings still 92 runs behind at 116 for five, had added just Ben Brown’s single to their overnight score when Liam Dawson fell for 18 – edging Worrall to Pope in the cordon in the third over of the morning.
It was Pope’s fourth catch of the innings in the position, and sixth of the match, and the England vice-captain then went to seven when Worrall returned for his second spell of the morning session, accepting a straightforward nick at second slip as Kyle Abbott departed for eight to the fast bowler’s second ball back.
Pope’s eighth and final catch of the match equalled Tony Lock’s record for Surrey from 1957 against Warwickshire at the Oval, although five of Lock’s catches in that game were off his own bowling. It also wrapped up the contest and gave Worrall his fifth wicket of the innings, Brad Wheal (9) obligingly edging for Pope to complete a spectacular tumbling take to his right.
Surrey’s record for catches in a first-class innings, however, remains seven by Micky Stewart against Northamptonshire at Northampton in June 1957.
James Fuller had earlier hung around 23 balls for his four, before fending a Gus Atkinson lifter to gully where Dan Lawrence took the catch at the second attempt to leave Hampshire 139 for seven.
Atkinson then greeted Abbott with a vicious first ball bouncer that the tailender did well to fend away from in front of his face, with both feet off the ground, and Abbott continued to bat bravely as he helped Brown to add 26 for the eighth wicket.
But Worrall’s return did for him and leg-spinner Cameron Steel, brought on for his first bowl of the match in the 71st over of Hampshire’s second innings, had Brown well-held on the deep mid-wicket ropes by Ryan Patel one ball after being slog-swept for six in his third over.
Brown’s 45 was a creditable effort but it was also a mark of Surrey’s dominance, and bowling power, that Steel – the early season’s leading championship wicket-taker with 20 from the first three rounds – had not been needed until the game was all but over.
Surrey, who also beat Kent at Canterbury last week, took 22 points to Hampshire’s three and have begun the campaign strongly in their bid for three successive championship titles.
For Hampshire, meanwhile, today’s loss was also their fourth heavy April defeat in successive years against Surrey at The Kia Oval, following their nine-wicket reverse last April and innings beatings in each of their previous two early-season visits.
"The relentless nature of it (Surrey's bowling attack) and how we went about it is a real blueprint for us moving forward into the year!" 🗣️
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) April 29, 2024
Captain & centurion Rory Burns spoke to @TheMiddleStump after Surrey wrapped up an innings victory over Hampshire.
🤎 | #SurreyCricket pic.twitter.com/BM1fq07PlF
