County Championship: Tim Ambrose hits ton for Warwickshire

Tim Ambrose played 11 Tests for England and hit his only international century against New Zealand

Tim Ambrose scored a sublime century for Warwickshire, but three wickets from James Tomlinson gave Hampshire the edge on day two at Edgbaston.

The former England wicketkeeper was dropped on 35 and 103 as he made 113 off 159 balls, hitting 17 fours.

Ambrose shared 65-run stands with Keith Barker (31) and Jeetan Patel (30), but Warwickshire were bowled out for 280.

Hampshire lost Jimmy Adams of the first ball of their second innings as they closed on 38-1, a lead of 77 runs.

Earlier, the home side had looked in trouble as Tomlinson (3-53) and Sean Ervine (2-43) reduced them to 72-4.

Andre Adams then picked up his maiden wicket for Hampshire when he had Sam Hain caught by Will Smith as Warwickshire struggled to 92-5 at lunch.

Ambrose led the recovery in the afternoon session, producing a number of sweetly-timed cover drives and sweeps before hitting Ervine for back-to-back fours to bring up his ninth century for the hosts.

As Warwickshire edged towards Hampshire's first innings total of 319, Tomlinson removed Ambrose with the new ball as he holed out to Adams.

The visitors began their second innings 39 runs to the good, only for Barker to swing his opening delivery back in and had opener Adams caught behind.

Michael Carberry (14) and Liam Dawson (22) survived 12 overs to prevent further loss before stumps.

Warwickshire wicketkeeper/batsman Tim Ambrose:

"It was pleasing to score a century because we were up against it a little bit and it is always nice to contribute in that situation.

"They are still in the ascendancy but we are back in it and now we have got to bowl very well tomorrow and take our chances.

"Hampshire bowled exceptionally well this morning and then it was really tough. It was a bit of a worry because in first games of the season in recent years we have tended not to get it right with the bat.

"It was good to fight our way back into the game, but it is really difficult to say what would be chaseable in the fourth innings."

Hampshire all-rounder Andre Adams:

"We would have taken that at the start of the day.

"We bowled pretty well while the ball was doing something and when the pitch got a little bit flat and Timmy Ambrose played well we bowled well in a containing way.

"The game is pretty well-advanced so if we can bat for a decent period tomorrow we could set them a difficult chase on the last day.

"Anything over 300 is always difficult but we would like to make it as big as possible."