Hampshire close in on second championship win of season

Hampshire edged toward their second championship win of the season in reaching 251 for six in pursuit of a victory target of 314 against fellow strugglers Kent.

The basement county, whose only other win of the campaign came against Durham at Basingstoke in mid-June, need a further 63 runs on the final day to improve their chances of staying in Division 1 whilst dragging Kent back into the relegation mire.

After Shane Warne had polished off the Kent second innings with a season's best return of six for 34 - including five for nine in 30 balls this morning - Hampshire made a shaky start to the pursuit when makeshift opener Alex Morris went leg before to Martin Saggers in the third over.

The visitors dug in with a second wicket stand worth 108 in 39 overs between Will Kendall and Giles White (29) that ended when Rahul Dravid snared White leg before for the Indian's fourth first-class wicket.

A double strike from Saggers swung the pendulum Kent's way soon after tea when Robin Smith went leg before to a shooter then Kendall's 213-minute stay ended when he edged a drive into the hands of David Fulton at slip.

First-class debutant Lawrence Prittipaul went on the counter attack to crack three fours from one Darren Scott over in reaching 35, but the Kent off-spinner soon had his revenge by snaring the 20-year-old leg before with a quicker ball.

Despite an ankle problem, Martin McCague battled gamely for Kent - who have nine bowlers on their injury list - and was rewarded with the final wicket of the day when Jason Laney holed out to deep-square leg.

Hampshire's seventh wicket partners Adrian Aymes and Dimitri Mascarenhas saw the visitors through to stumps without further alarm, even though Kent's acting captain Alan Wells controversially claimed the extra half hour in a bid to force a home win.

The first session of the day belonged to Warne who, after taking his 50th championship wicket on Wednesday, added five more to his tally as Kent lost their last five wickets for 47 to be dismissed for 146.