Hampshire 305 for six (Prest 85, Dawson 61*, Vince 56, Gubbins 50) vs Lancashire
Former England under-19 captain Prest hinted at his first-class skills together with his maiden ton in direction of the finish of final season and opened his account this yr with a high-quality knock.
He was one in all 4 half-century makers for the hosts – with Nick Gubbins, James Vince and Liam Dawson additionally reaching the milestone as Hampshire totted up 305 for six in entrance of their highest first-day-of-the-season crowd from over a decade.
Skipper Vince received the toss and selected to bat first, giving debutant Ali Orr an instantaneous probability to impress the Hampshire supporters after his winter transfer from Sussex.
His collaboration with new opening companion Fletcha Middleton may have some work after the latter was run out in the ninth over by a George Balderson direct hit after a miscommunication.
Orr departed 4 overs later when Tom Bailey lower him in two with a depraved in-jagger to be caught behind, however from there, Hampshire discovered extra fluency and constructed partnerships in overcast circumstances.
Vince had come off a winter of seemingly countless white-ball cricket, taking him from Abu Dhabi to Australia, Dubai to Pakistan.
He ended final season’s Championship marketing campaign – one the place he grow to be Hampshire’s first batter to 1,000 first-class runs since 2016 – with 56 and commenced the new marketing campaign in equivalent fettle.
It was a look down and also you missed it half-century, developing in 62 balls however with hardly a shot in anger. It included a cowl drive however in any other case stored the ball on a string to ease his facet from hazard in an 84-run stand with Gubbins, taking the rating away from the worrying 26 for 2.
Gubbins, who had scored twin centuries on Lancashire’s earlier journey to Utilita Bowl, unfurled his usually aesthetic but regular knock to supply the foil for Vince earlier than serving to Prest lay the foundations for his innings.
Australian spinner Lyon had been as a consequence of play for Hampshire in 2020 earlier than Covid prevented him from arriving. His maiden first-class outing on what would have been his residence floor noticed him strike in his seventh over as Vince tamely turned to leg-slip.
Lyon was given the lone front-line spinner furrow, with England left-armer Tom Hartley ignored having performed in the rain-affected draw towards Surrey. The 36-year-old additionally lured Gubbins into a drive to edge behind three balls after reaching a 112-run 50 however the most intriguing passage of the day was Lyon’s battle with 21-year-old Prest.
It started with a sharp probability at short-leg, which was adopted by a maiden over the place each ball landed on the similar spot, earlier than Prest replied with a pair of reverse sweeps. The battle would conclude with 33 runs and 34 dots in 51 balls – together with the day’s solely most on the slog sweep.
Prest is one to observe this season after his maiden century in the penultimate fixture of final season, the place he took down Simon Harmer in model.
His 76-ball fifty oozed high quality and underlined his tag however fell in need of a century when he gloved a sweep to slide, three balls after Lyon had dropped a tough probability on the dive. It ended a 93-run alliance with Dawson.
Ben Brown fell quickly after when Will Williams secured an edge to 3rd slip with the second new ball however Dawson made it a quartet of fifty-makers with an unbeaten 61 – though was dropped on 51 earlier than the shut.
