After leading Hampshire off the field for his first lunch as the county's captain, Shane Warne stepped aside and applauded his teammates before sending each one into the pavilion with a pat on the back.

A wicket and two slip catches was a more than satisfactory first session for Hampshire's skipper but he took the first chance to make it apparent to everyone that Shane Warne is a team man and not just a global superstar.

As if we didn't know that already.

But Michael Brown and Billy Taylor, two of Hampshire's three debutants, must have been pinching themselves.

It had been a good start to a very good day that began quietly in front of a crowd not much bigger than the press scrum that greeted Warne 48 hours earlier.

'Warney' had talked up the start of the new county season with the same enthusiasm that he has before every Ashes series at the Hampshire Media Day.

There was certainly a buzz about the place unmatched since a swarm of bees descended on the Rose Bowl during play two years ago.

But the size of the crowd did not match the excitement generated by Warne's return - to begin with anyway.

Before play began The Sun requested that the local freelance journalist phone over a head count of those present.

It would not have taken long to count them. Warne lost his first toss as Hampshire skipper in front of the usual gathering of Thermos flask carriers before leading out his side to a warm reception.

But by mid-afternoon the crowd was far bigger than the Rose Bowl stewards usually expect for the opening day of a season.

The car parking attendants reckoned it to be busier than any day of championship cricket in the Rose Bowl's three-year history.

That assessment was confirmed by a figure of around 3,000, a level of support usually reserved for one-day games.

The Warne factor also boosted pre-season membership sales and ensured that yesterday's gathering was double what is usually expected for a day of championship cricket in mid-April.

But the great man was so focused on the task in hand that the ground might as well have been filled to capacity.

He leapt about like jack-in-the-box after taking each of his three catches at second slip, the pick of which was his first, a diving effort off the bowling of his pal, Alan Mullally.

It was typical of him to pouch all the slip catches - then take the final wicket. He is not known as 'Hollywood' for nothing.

But it was his first wicket that drew the biggest cheer of the day.

The Durham batsmen had shown little respect for one of the game's all-time greats. And when Marcus North drove Warne's third ball to the long on boundary it was clear that the visiting side were not star struck.

Perhaps they were on orders to hit the home side's young leg spinner out of the attack - a slimline Warne was unrecognisable from his last stint of county cricket. His action wasn't, though.

But it was fun for them while it lasted.

Soon Warne was applauding his troops off the field again after a job well done. It was a far cry from the anti-climax that followed his debut in 2000, when he was out for a pair.

Replicas of his number 23 shirt will be as popular as Saints' red and white stripes if he keeps this up.