Adams gives Hampshire hope

Hampshire 300 and 177 for 4 lead Nottinghamshire 329 by 148 runs
Scorecard

Jimmy Adams' tentative 60 edged Hampshire into a narrow 148-run lead at the Rose Bowl as they bid to avoid a sixth straight domestic defeat of the season. Adams was the only Hampshire batsmen to make a significant impact on the scorecard as Samit Patel's two wickets left Nottinghamshire in a strong position to avoid defeat and maintain their strong start to the County Championship Division One season.

Nottinghamshire allrounder Steven Mullaney had earlier taken the away side past Hampshire's first innings total with a sturdy unbeaten 100, ably supported by Paul Franks' 48 from 90 deliveries. Mullaney frustrated the home attack, taking the game to Hampshire and striking 12 boundaries during his century.

Mullaney and tailender Franks put on 79 for the eighth wicket before the latter was trapped lbw by Dominic Cork with the Hampshire veteran then cleaning up the tail with the wickets of Darren Pattinson and Charlie Shreck to dismiss them for 329 and claim figures of 4 for 34.

Hampshire began positively with in-form Michael Carberry looking to add to his first innings haul of 132 - and he and Adams looked in good shape building an encouraging first-wicket stand. However the England batsman nicked a swinging delivery from Pattinson to wicketkeeper Chris Read with Hampshire just five runs ahead - and you could almost feel the nerves enveloping around the Rose Bowl.

Chris Benham did little to quell those fears with an underwhelming 18 from 44 balls, failing to find the boundary rope before he was removed lbw by Samit Patel, unable to judge a well-pitched delivery from the spinner. At the other end Adams kept his head with some fine drives and intelligent pinch-hitting to keep the score ticking over.

He lost another partner when South African Neil McKenzie again failed to deliver on his return to England as he edged a quick Shreck delivery to Read for another disappointing score of just 12. Adams' resolve lasted until the 49th over when he popped one up to Bilal Shafayat in the field from Patel and the collapse continued with Nottinghamshire eyeing a total below 200 to win.

Thankfully for the hosts the experienced head of Nic Pothas (29 not out) and teenager James Vince (29 not out) glued together a 50-run partnership inside 30 gruelling overs at the end of the day's play just when it was needed.