THE new Flintoff; the new Botham? The accolades are inevitable for big Ben Stokes after he demolished the remains of the Hampshire innings with three wickets in an over to finish with six for 68.

If the great all-rounders fail with one of their strings they atone with the other one and the powerfully-built Stokes made spectacular amends after contributing ten runs to Durham's 473.

Still only 19, he certainly bears comparison with Freddie Flintoff in his bowling style and the deceptive pace was evident from the way he spreadeagled last man Simon Jones' stumps.

To compound the misery for the injury-plagued Jones he limped off in his second over when Durham declined to enforce the follow-on.

Dominic Cork completed the over but four overs later he pulled up himself and had to make way for Sean Ervine as the casualty rate among professional cricketers continued to raise eyebrows to new levels.

Steve Harmison took some part in Durham's warm-up but clearly wasn't happy with his heavily-bandaged left forearm and did not take the field. After Callum Thorp bowled the first over the new ball was due and Stokes took it.

There was no sign of what was to come in his first over, but after adding 12 runs to their overnight 280 for six Hampshire lost their four remaining wickets in ten balls with the only addition to the total coming from a Stokes no-ball.

First Thorp had Nic Pothas lbw for 56, a decision which seemed to mystify the wicketkeeper. Then Stokes appeared to pin Cork plumb in front with an in-swinger, only for the home captain to be saved by the call of "no-ball."

The next delivery was an action replay without the accompanying call and Cork was on his way. Two balls later steep bounce forced Danny Briggs to edge to Phil Mustard and two balls after that Jones' stumps were splattered.

Stokes' best figures last season were two for 32 at home to Hampshire in the second match. An ankle problem prevented him from bowling for much of the season and something similar restricted him during his winter with England Lions.

Durham led by 179 but with plenty of time left they decided not to enforce the follow-on, the hope being that Harmison will be fit to bowl tomorrow.

Scott Borthwick opened in the absence of broken hand victim Mark Stoneman and contributed 13 to a stand of 45 before hooking Ervine to long leg.

In the last over before lunch Michael Di Venuto fell for 40 when he edged a drive to slip off Danny Briggs. Durham went into the break on 82 for two, leading by 261.