Kent failed to make the most of a good start with the ball on the first day of their Vitality County Championship Division 1 match against Hampshire on Sunday.
Hampshire captain James Vince had skirted around form with 305 runs in 11 innings before he exploded with a sensational unbeaten 166 against Warwickshire last week before following it up with 149 not out at Utilita Bowl, as Hampshire recovered well from 56-3.
He and Ben Brown put on 245 for the fourth wicket – after the top order had faltered – to put Hampshire in command.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Brown joined Vince in the three-figure club late in the day to reach an unbeaten 106, as Hampshire ended 310-3.
Having been stuck in and endured an 80-minute rain delay shortly after play had started, Hampshire found themselves in a spot of bother.
Fletcha Middleton had recorded twin 50s at Edgbaston but uneasily left his bat hanging for the fit-again Grant Stewart (1-55) to kiss the outside edge.
Australian overseas bowler Charlie Stobo (1-50) was next up to bulldoze the top order when Nick Gubbins, unfortunately, padded into his stumps to leave Hampshire 24-2.
Vince quickly got moving with his first scoring shot, which was a drive through to the cover boundary.
But Hampshire lost former Kent loanee Toby Albert after nine overs with Vince when the opener loosely drove to second slip – with Jack Leaning not showing any ill effects from the broken hand which had kept him out for seven weeks – to take a catch from the bowling of Joey Evison (1-48).
From then on, it was the Vince show, with luscious shots while toying with the now ineffective visiting bowlers.
Before that mesmerising century earlier in the week, he only had a pair of 50s in the Championship and a Vitality Blast 53 to show for a disappointing opening to the campaign.
But this was peak Vince, dismissing any loose bowling for boundaries – with 10 of his boundaries piercing through the covers.
There were barely a handful of occasions when he was out of control of the ball, and none went close to hands as he started in fourth gear and never relented.
The 50 came in 56 balls, the century – his 30th in first-class matches – zipped by in 115 deliveries with a tuck off his legs. There was even time for him to pass 12,000 red ball runs for Hampshire.
If Vince was aggressive and effortless, Brown was watchful and determined.
Everything the former Sussex captain did was controlled. Boundaries came when they came but he never went searching for them.
But when there was a little width, a punched cut would appear. A ball down his legs and a full-blooded sweep of pull would materialise.
His 25th ton arrived in 183 balls as the floodlights started to glow as the green-tinged pitch, which initially looked perfect for bowling, had long since flattened out.
