Hampshire v Yorkshire: James Vince hits unbeaten 143 as hosts make a solid start

James Vince struck his 19th first-class century

Hampshire captain James Vince struck an unbeaten 143 to help his side make a solid start against Yorkshire.

Put into bat after an uncontested toss, Hampshire lost Michael Carberry to Ben Coad (3-49) before Vince, Jimmy Adams (29), Tom Alsop (40) and Sean Ervine (48) made a recovery under the clouds.

Vince, who was dropped on 39, struck 20 fours in his century and shared a 110-run partnership with Ervine.

Bad light curtailed play, but Hampshire reached an early close at 281-4.

Hampshire completed a remarkable comeback win over Yorkshire in the opening round of the County Championship, but faced a difficult start with captain Gary Ballance putting them into bat in overcast conditions.

Coad, the division's leading wicket-taker with 20, straight away continued his wonderful start to the season, having Carberry caught behind by returning England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow for six.

Adams and Vince took the hosts to lunch before Adams was trapped lbw by Coad from the first ball after the interval, leaving Alsop and Vince to put on a fluent 82-run partnership.

Vince was given a reprieve when Adam Lyth spilled a chance at slip off David Willey before Alsop was pinned lbw by Steven Patterson, bringing Ervine to the crease.

The Hampshire skipper found his rhythm alongside Ervine, increasing his strike rate to reach his century after tea with a characteristic drive through the offside.

Ervine was caught behind off Coad after the new ball was taken on 80 overs, but Liam Dawson survived the closing stages before play was abandoned with four overs unbowled.

Hampshire captain James Vince told BBC Radio Solent:

"After being put in, if you'd offered 281-4 at the start of the day we would have taken it.

"I haven't got off to a great start to the year, so to come out and get a big score here and hopefully come back tomorrow and keep adding to it [is the aim].

"Guys have batted well this year, but we haven't had anyone go on and make a big score, so hopefully we can get some more partnerships going tomorrow and push as hard as we can to get a big score."

Yorkshire captain Gary Ballance told BBC Radio Leeds:

"We bowled quite well in the first two sessions. There were a few chances which went down which is not ideal and we let it get away from us in the last session.

"We knew it would be a good wicket but we thought with the overhead conditions it would swing around a bit. We bowled nicely and put them under pressure early on but couldn't sustain it for the whole day.

"Vince played nicely. He is obviously a very good player. It is a shame we put him down and he made us pay. Hopefully we can get him out early on tomorrow morning."

James Vince has played seven Tests for England, the last of which came against Pakistan in August