Ryan McLaren, cut adrift from the Proteas before the World Cup, made an immediate impact on his debut for Hampshire in the English County Championship on Tuesday.

He took four Durham wickets in the first of four matches he will play for Hampshire as they desperately try to fight off relegation from Division One.

The snubbed all-rounder struck as early as his third over, and by the end of his eighth, he had 3-16. The Durham middle order put up a bit of resistance, but he returned to take his fourth wicket, ending the day on 4-60 off 18.1. He worked well in tandem, too, with Gareth Berg, the SACS old boy now qualified to play for Italy through his mother.

Berg weighed in with 3-27 off 16 as Durham folded for 213.

McLaren signed for the last month of action to replace Hampshire’s overseas player Jackson Bird, who was recalled by Tasmania for their domestic season. He was recruited in part by coach Dale Benkenstein, who played against him when with the Dolphins.

He could even stay on. ‘It could be more,’ said Benkenstein. ‘We’ll see how he goes and what he wants to do. He’s been speaking to the club for a while. I played against him for a long time, he’s a quality player who still wants to play a lot of cricket and this is still a good time in his career.’

McLaren was devastated when he lost out in the World Cup to Wayne Parnell.

Rain his hammering the championship matches, but Rory Kleinveldt had enough time to take 2-40 for Northamptonshire as Essex struggled to 177-6.

Compiled by Mark Salter