A DAY which began with Steve Harmison limping off with a shin injury grew steadily worse for Durham as they were routed for 83 at Basingstoke yesterday.

It was their lowest first innings total in first-class cricket, and equalled their third lowest overall behind second innings totals of 67 at Lord's in 1996 and 74 against Yorkshire at the Riverside in 1998.

Following on 257 behind, Durham reached 12 for one in eight overs in their second innings and those who support the retention of first-class cricket at such venues were left to contemplate yet another blank Saturday.

The lack of buzz in the Durham team at the start of play hinted that they felt there was no way they could stave off defeat on a dry pitch which was already powdering in the bowlers' follow through.

Their gamble of altering the balance of the side by including an extra bowler had already backfired badly, and asking 17-year-old Nicky Peng to open in a line-up which had Nicky Phillips at No 7 was fraught with danger.

Peng outlived the other members of the top four before he edged to second slip for nine, but in the second innings he was lbw to Shaun Udal for nought as Hampshire sought to exploit the conditions with an all-spin attack.

Skipper Nick Speak made the top score of 22 before becoming the first of Shane Warne's victims as the Australian leg-spinner switched ends to take four of the last six wickets.

The others went to former England left-armer Alan Mullally with virtually the only balls he bowled which didn't drift down leg side.

Harmison has been troubled by sore shins at various times over the last two years, but now it has flared up worse than ever in his left leg and is causing some concern. He batted with Speak as a runner at the end of the innings.

Physio Nigel Kent said: "He's a genuine lad and wouldn't have come off if it wasn't very painful. We have had ice on it, but all we can do at the moment is see how he is in the morning."

With Michael Gough missing the second team match because of a recurrence of his back problems, Durham's improving fortunes on the injury front have wasted little time in slipping into reverse.

They desperately need someone with Gough's adhesive qualities to bind together a top order which is creaking badly and leaning far too heavily on Simon Katich.

Talented player though he is, at 24 it is a huge burden for him to carry and he recorded his third successive single figure score when he fell lbw to Dimitri Mascarenhas' second ball.

He was well forward and it looked a poor decision by Tony Clarkson.

Mascarenhas, whose dibbly dobblers are delivered at the right pace for this pitch, wrecked Durham's innings with a spell of three for 11 in 29 balls.

At 22 for four there was little prospect of a recovery, despite a stand of 29 between Speak and Martin Speight.

Warne was on in the 13th over, but there was no notable turn until he switched ends after tea. He appealed loudly for a catch at the wicket when he had beaten Speight's outside edge by at least six inches, and eventually had his reward with a sucker ball to Speak.

A deep gully had been posted and Speak could barely believe what he had done when he cut a long hop straight to him.

Phillips lasted one over, then Speight edged Mullally to second slip and Warne took the last three wickets to finish with four for 34.

John Wood was caught at the wicket, Melvyn Betts was bowled round his legs and Simon Brown, having blocked a juicy full toss, swept the next ball high to deep backward square.

It was clear from the first ball of the day, which flopped out like a marshmallow, that all was not well with Harmison.

He struggled through two overs before retiring and the introduction of Brown briefly worked in Durham's favour as he took three for one in ten balls.

Umpire Trevor Jesty, who once observed that he wasn't awarded the Hampshire captaincy because he didn't have three initials, gave Adrian Aymes out lbw when well forward to end a fifth wicket stand of 95.

Derek Kenway went the same way in Brown's next over for a top score of 47 in Hampshire's total of 340, in which eight batsmen made 27 or more.

Brown then had Warne caught behind for his fifth duck in 11 championship innings to make it 274 for seven in the over before the new ball was available.

But with Harmison off, Wood apparently out of favour and Betts having bowled another excellent spell without any luck, Durham delayed taking the new ball until the 116th over.

In the meantime Mascarenhas and Udal became well entrenched against the bowling of Phillips and Paul Collingwood.

There had been only 45 runs in the first two hours as Hampshire knew the longer they could occupy the crease the more the pitch would wear.

Wood was brought on when the new ball was taken and Udal drove him wide of mid-on for only the third four of the morning.

There were two more fours off Wood's next over, but he then induced an edge from Mascarenhas to give Speight one of his four catches.

The frustrations of Betts, easily Durham's best bowler, were evident in his celebrations when he had Mullally lbw and when Brown returned for a second spell his first ball had Udal caught down the leg side to leave the left-armer with figures of four for 62