Thorpe Makes Ton For Surrey

Thorpe marked his return to action with 143 as Surrey underlined their status as the best team in the country.

They reached 422 for eight at the close, a lead of 513 after Hampshire had been dismissed for 327 in reply to 418.

His century, which came up in 161 balls, overshadowed that of Ian Ward (156), his second of the match and one which took him past Nick Knight at the top of the season's first-class run-scoring charts.

Ward is the fifth batsman this term to reach three figures in each innings, and the only disappointing was his failure to surpass his best score of 168 not out.

Thorpe and Ward shared a stand of 239 for the third wicket which leaves Surrey in a commanding position to register their ninth victory.

Coming together at 93 for two after the failures of Scott Newman and Nadeem Shahid, Ward and Thorpe spent the entire afternoon session together to effectively end Hampshire's chances of victory.

Newman's dismissal this morning for 15, lbw to James Schofield, left him with a match aggregate of 19, while Shahid contributed just 20 to a second-wicket partnership of 66 before edging Dimitri Mascarenhas to Nic Pothas.

Ward's six-hour stay came to an end when he was stumped by Pothas off Jimmy Adams, whose joy at claiming a first championship wicket doubled with the capture of Ali Brown two balls later.

Thorpe sliced James Tomlinson to Adams at backward point before Jon Batty, Ian Salisbury and Martin Bicknell were dismissed late on.