Lumb leads revival

Michael Lumb helped his team towards a respectable total

Michael Lumb recorded his highest score for Hampshire after the early loss of two wickets on a rain-hit day at the Rose Bowl.

Lumb, recruited from Yorkshire, scored 70 with 10 boundaries to help the home side get out of trouble in their LV County Championship Division One clash.

Hampshire captain Shane Warne won the toss and must have wondered if he had made the right decision to bat when opening batsman Michael Brown was lbw to Graham Onions without scoring from the two balls he faced.

The normally prolific John Crawley was the next to go, bowled by Onions, also without scoring.

Hampshire were one for two but Lumb began the process of a recovery in a stand of 82 for the third wicket with Michael Carberry.

The introduction of spinner Paul Wiseman halted the Hampshire improvement when he turned one to beat Carberry, whose patient innings of 30 had occupied 95 balls.

Lumb and Chris Benham made up for time lost to the weather with a stand of 54 for the fourth wicket and along the way Lumb reached his fourth half-century since moving south.

But then Hampshire suffered two more setbacks, the first when Benham edged veteran West Indian pace bowler Ottis Gibson to Michael Di Venuto after hitting 22.

Wiseman then removed Lumb to a leg before wicket decision on the back foot.

At the close Hampshire had reached 160 for five from 57 overs, which meant that almost half a day was wiped out by heavy rain in the morning.

At the close Nic Pothas was unbeaten with 15 and nightwatchman Chris Tremlett had scored three.

For Durham, Onions' early persistence was rewarded with figures of 2-41 while Wiseman showed Warne there was turn in the pitch by ending the day with 2-12.

The other wicket-taker, Gibson, took 1-42 while Liam Plunkett, dropped by England, had no success.

Plunkett, striving for length and line, failed to take a wicket in 14 overs which cost him 38 on a pitch which offered plenty of help to the seamers in the early part of the Hampshire innings.