Hampshire 176 and 195 for 7 (Terry 52, Wheater 50, Rayner 3-44, Harris 3-60) lead Middlesex 330 (Rayner 52, Wheal 4-101) by 41 runs
Scorecard
"The first thing that anyone says is 'Tall, 6ft 5in German offspinner who doesn't impart an awful lot of spin on the ball'," Ollie Rayner said after play on the third day at Lord's.
Rayner is not a cricketer who holds himself in lofty regard. He knows his limitations but his typically unspectacular performance against Hampshire has set Middlesex up to complete a fourth victory of the season and maintain very real Championship aspirations.
Graeme Swann proved that reports of the death of the orthodox spinner were as exaggerated as those that prematurely saw off Mark Twain. One effect of the ICC's newfound urgency about bowlers keeping within the 15-degree limit has been to imbue plain old offspin with new life.
At English domestic level there are few better practitioners of the art than Rayner. He lacks a doosra or prodigious turn, but provides bounce and parsimony. It looked as if Rayner's main value to Middlesex on the third day would be in yielding under two runs an over, thereby preventing the seamers from being overbowled in the sweltering heat. But in the evening sunshine he struck three times in six overs.
At six minutes to 6pm, Rayner had the crowning glory of his day's endeavour. Joe Gatting's immaculate forward defensive was met only by air as he played for turn that was lacking, and his off stump was uprooted.
Rayner joked that it was the doosra. But his lack of such a mystery delivery is not the issue it once was after the governing body's clampdown on illegal actions.
"It puts everyone on more of a level playing field," he said. "I do feel now that things are getting picked up it is making the art of spin more recognisable in players that don't have much mystery to them. You do need a something about you to bowl all these deliveries and it's hard to do in an orthodox fashion."
Rayner has no pretensions of being a harbinger of doom for opposing batsman to rival Saeed Ajmal, who played such a pivotal part for Worcestershire last season.
"It's not a sexy role," he said. "I moved up from Sussex to play more games and I knew I was going to play half my games at Lord's, which isn't notoriously good for spinners. It's generally a holding role - you get through a few overs and build a bit of pressure and think 'Okay, it's my time to attack now'."
His bowling might eschew all histrionics but Rayner's celebrations embrace them: he twirls away and raises his arms in a reaction that marries triumph with palpable relief. And rightly so. Rayner works hard for his wickets and seldom more so than here, when he got through 25 overs after completing a dour half-century in the morning.
The upshot is that Middlesex will expect to complete a victory well before lunch on the final day. James Harris matched Rayner in taking three wickets, pitching the ball up and swinging it late and both ways to serve the latest notice of his rejuvenation. The 2015 Championship season has now brought him 48 wickets, more than anyone else in Division One; few can have garnered more satisfaction than that of James Vince, castled by an inswinger.
Even before Rayner's burst of wickets, his value lay in ensuring that Hampshire eroded their first innings deficit of 154 at a funereal rate. Sean Terry was assiduous in defence in bringing up a half-century in 153 balls, but it took Wheater's emergence at No. 6 to briefly threaten Middlesex's control. He needed 25 balls to overtake the score Will Smith had carefully compiled in 102.
Wheater bristled with intent, driving fluently and being proactive about rotating the strike. He took it upon himself to attack Rayner, hitting four fours off nine deliveries. Perhaps here was a man to master Rayner's non-mystery. But Wheater was snared playing across the line just before the close. With the second new ball only four overs old, it effectively confirms that Hampshire will leave Lord's with their fourth defeat of the season and bottom of Division One.
