Joe Weatherley and Ian Holland put Hampshire on the driving seat

An excellent collective effort by the batters has put Hampshire in a commanding position in their first game of this year's county championship against Somerset. 

Resuming their first innings from 109 for no loss, Hampshire cruised smoothly towards Somerset's meagre first innings total of 180 runs courtesy of a magnificent opening stand between Joe Weatherley and Ian Holland. 

The Hampshire openers added 180 runs for the first wicket before Ben Green caught Holland at an individual score of 81 off Roelof Van der Merwe's delivery in the second over of the day. 

On the other hand, Weatherley continued his exquisite touch with the bat and stitched two vital partnerships of 83 runs and 61 runs with Nick Gubbins and James Vince, respectively, for the 2nd and 3rd wicket. 

The 25-year-old played one of the finest knocks of his first-class career in this process and contributed extremely crucial 168 runs before getting knocked over by the experienced Peter Siddle in the 89th over at the team score of 324. 

Apart from the openers' heroics, a quick-fire knock of 56 runs off just 69 deliveries by James Vince was also among the major highlights of the day's play. The skipper's impactful knock, which involved nine beautiful boundaries, never let Hampshire lose the momentum in the post-lunch session. 

After Vince was trapped in front of the stumps by Marchant de Lange in the 99th over at the team score of 353, the Somerset bowlers were frustrated by Hampshire's lower order to a great extent. However, the valuable knocks by Ben Brown (18 off 62), Felix Organ (21 off 44), Keith Baker (18 off 28) and James Fuller (17 off 7) took Hampshire to a formidable total of 428, thereby providing them with a substantial first-innings lead of 248 runs. 

Ben Green was the most successful among the Somerset bowlers as the right-arm medium-fast bowler picked three wickets for 31 runs in his 8.4 overs.  

In reply to Hampshire's solid first innings, both the Somerset openers Ben Green (8*) and Tom Lammonby (7*) safely negotiated the six overs they played before stumps. As a result, Somerset is on 15 for no loss, trailing by 233 runs at the end of the second day. 

Keith Baker looked sharp amongst the Hampshire bowlers as the veteran left-arm seamer conceded only four runs in his three overs. However, Kyle Abott went for two boundaries, giving 11 runs in as many overs.  

Brief Scores: 

Hampshire (1st inns)- 428 all out, Weatherley- 168, Holland- 81, Vince- 56, Ben Green- 3/31, Siddle- 2/66

Somerset (2nd inns)- 15-0, Green- 8*, Lammonby- 7*