Hants skipper Dimitri Mascarenhas celebrates a wicket

Hampshire moved to the top of the Championship table and pushed Surrey closer to relegation with victory by an innings and 122 runs at The Oval.

The home side added just 39 runs for their last three wickets before being bowled out for 210.

And they fared even worse after following on, making just 148 despite 51 from opener Scott Newman.

Dimitri Mascarenhas claimed 4-13 from 12 overs and Chris Tremlett and James Tomlinson took three wickets each.

The win gave Hampshire renewed hope of their first title since 1973, a magnificent turnaround in fortunes after slumping to bottom place two months ago.

Surrey's hopes of prolonging their first innings disappeared when spin bowler Imran Tahir bowled Mark Ramprakash for 61.

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But it was the seamers who did the damage after the follow-on with five wickets going down for just 14 runs after Newman had batted well for his second half-century of the game.

James Benning was lbw to Mascarenhas for four to leave Surrey on 61-2, and the Hampshire captain then removed Newman with the help of Sean Ervine at slip.

Ramprakash followed, caught by Michael Brown for 11, and when Tremlett added the wickets of Jon Batty and Alex Tudor, Surrey were in disarray at 75-6.

Saqlain Mushtaq (24) helped Afzaal add 53 for the seventh wicket but was then bowled by Tomlinson and Hampshire wasted no time in clearing up the tail.

Shoaib Akthar's unhappy debut ended when he was caught for two off Tomlinson, who ended the game with another straight one to bowl Pedro Collins for a duck.

It was only Surrey's fourth defeat of the season, but their failure to win a single match so far has left them 18 points adrift of Yorkshire and Lancashire and makes Division Two cricket next summer a near certainty.