IT IS 12 years since Hampshire beat Surrey in the Benson and Hedges Cup and unless by some miracle they both reach the final at Lord's in July they are not going to manage it again. For a time while Robin Smith and Giles White were putting on 78 in 16 overs in pursuit of a demanding target of 268 they were in touch but the combination of Martin Bicknell and Ian Salisbury proved too good.
Salisbury's performance was possibly the more significant, not least in view of the weakness of this summer's touring team, South Africa, against wrist spin. He has generally been a more effective bowler in one-day cricket than his reputation as a profligate talent might suggest and it would not take many repetitions of his poised performance here for him to get another chance for England in a 50-over match, let alone a Test.
His winter of grade cricket in New South Wales has clearly been well spent and both his leg-break and his googly were spinning and bouncing too much for any of the Hampshire batsmen's liking on a slow, true pitch.
Bicknell's figures of four for 38 were even better. There could be worse selections than him too. He bowled more overs and took more wickets than anyone for Surrey last season and at 29 is three years younger than the restored Angus Fraser.
The Gold Award, however, went instead to Mark Butcher for making the only fifty of the match, an innings of good judgment started at a time when Surrey were faltering against Dimitri Mascarenhas and Peter Hartley after one of their customary rollicking starts.
Simon Renshaw announced himself in this fixture 12 months ago with six for 25 on one of those days when everything went right. Almost the opposite was true yesterday as he became the first of Hampshire's three bowlers to concede 60 or more. Renshaw bowled better than the figures suggest but almost anyone is vulnerable against Alistair Brown and Alec Stewart.
The pitch was not quite quick enough for Stewart to time the ball as he can but Brown's compact strength and fearless aggression were in full working order. He clubbed, square-cut and pull-drove three fours in a row in the seventh over and made 43 of the 69 Surrey had posted in 12 overs before he drove to mid-on to give Mascarenhas the first of his four wickets.
Australian-bred but English born to Sri Lankan parents, this loose-limbed 20-year-old is another who has had a successful winter in grade cricket and he nipped a ball through Stewart's gate as he drove. When Ben Hollioake gave Adrian Aymes the first of two brilliant catches (his third was routine), Butcher and Graham Thorpe were obliged to proceed for a while in ones and twos rather than boundaries. They expertly reasserted Surrey's control, Thorpe's 48 coming from 66 balls, Butcher's 67 from 97.
With John Stephenson, last year's captain, injured, only his successor looked capable of taking prolonged command when Hampshire's turn came. Smith started with two glorious back-foot shots and White was soon striking it well in support but a slower ball from Adam Hollioake and a running catch on the square-leg boundary by his brother accounted for these two in mid innings. Bicknell and Salisbury were in control thereafter.