It may be too early to press the panic button, but two ignominious defeats in a few days have taken of some of the shine off an optimistic start.

Winning the toss was important, with cloud cover and damp conditions, and Hampshire were delighted to have Kent at 25-4, with Mullally being particularly difficult with the wind at his back. But the visitors scraped back into the innings, with their middle order realising this was not a wicket to play glorious shots on. First Andrew Symonds, Matthew Walker and Paul Nixon rallied and there was a quickfire 34 from James Golding at the end, Kent probably went into the break slightly more optimistic.

James Hamblin had some success last season as a pinch-hitter, and he continued in this roll when Hampshire batted. He cracked 39 runs in just 24 balls with seven fours to give Kent a fright, but apart from a more diligent 25 from Derek Kenway, the Hampshire batting fell apart. The next five, all capable batsmen, went for just 18 between them with Matthew Fleming and Symonds using the conditions well, with a swirling almost gale force wind to assist.

The end came quickly, with Kent winning by 68 runs, to give them their ninth victory out of 11 completed B & H matches against Hampshire.

Paul Nixon for his patient 42 and a superb wicket-keeping display, won the Gold Award.