Shane Warne liked to create a sense of theatre around his bowling and yesterday Imran Tahir, his successor as Hampshire's leg spinner, produced a dramatic bowling performance that has threatened to turn this match on its head. After meandering along for the first 2½ days, the game was shaken into life when Tahir, playing his first championship match for Hampshire, claimed four Lancashire wickets to add to the five he took in the first innings.

Having secured a first-innings lead of 69, Lancashire had begun their second innings with hopes of batting towards a declaration. Now they must fear defeat by lowly opponents.

On a dry, wearing pitch, Imran's leg breaks are turning sharply and his variation is causing problems. Stuart Law was undone by a googly that ricocheted off his glove to short leg, Francois du Plessis chipped a return catch from a flighted leg break and Paul Horton and Glen Chapple were surprised by top-spinners.

With some variable bounce for the seam bowlers, Hampshire's run chase will be far from straightforward, but Tahir has given them hope.

Scoreboard

Lancashire: First innings 357 (P J Horton 66, L Vincent 58, F du Plessis 57, S G Law 51, Imran Tahir 5-123)

Second Innings
L Vincent c Pothas b Balcombe 2
P J Horton b Tahir 25
I J Sutcliffe b Tremlett 4
*S G Law c Brown b Tahir 22
F du Plessis c and b Tahir 31
S J Croft b Balcombe 15
L D Sutton not out 2
G Chapple b Tahir 8
G Keedy not out 4
Extras (b 2, lb 5, w 1) 8

Total (7 wkts, 50 overs) 121

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-16, 3-49, 4-54, 5-98, 6-107, 7-116.

Bowling: Tremlett 11-2-24-1; Balcombe 9-2-20-2; Tahir 19-7-48-4; Tomlinson 8-2-12-0; Ervine 3-0-10-0.

Hampshire: First Innings (overnight 174-3)
M J Brown lbw b Cork 76
C C Benham c Law b Keedy 89
N Pothas c Vincent b Cork 0
*A D Mascarenhas c Sutton b Mahmood 49
C T Tremlett c Cork b Keedy 4
D J Balcombe lbw b Chapple 11
Imran Tahir b Mahmood 17
J A Tomlinson not out 6
Extras (b 12, lb 5, w 3, nb 2) 22

Total (113.4 overs) 288

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-15, 3-35, 4-180, 5-180, 6-194, 7-208, 8-257, 9-277.

Bowling: Chapple 19-6-46-2; Mahmood 27.4-8-69-3; Cork 18-6-33-3; Keedy 39-7-101-2; Croft 3-0-9-0; Du Plessis 7-1-13-0.

Umpires: J F Steele and G I Burgess.

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