FRIENDS PROVIDENT TROPHY
Hampshire 300-5 beat Leicestershire by 46 runs

Chris Benham hit an unbeaten century as Hampshire enjoyed a high-scoring 46-run Friends Provident Trophy win over Leicestershire at The Rose Bowl.

Benham (108no) helped Nic Pothas (57no) break the Hants skipper's own county record, putting on an unbroken 177-run sixth wicket stand, out of 300-5.

Leicester's own wicketkeeper Paul Nixon responded with a 50 of his own.

But, with Billy Taylor and Sean Ervine taking three wickets apiece, the visitors were bowled out for 254.

The previous Hampshire one-day best sixth-wicket partnership was an unbroken 131 between Pothas and Dimitri Mascarenhas against Glamorgan at Swansea just two years ago.

Having been beaten by Hampshire at Grace Road by four wickets last Sunday, on top of defeat in the opener against Nottinghamshire, the Foxes' third straight loss leaves their hopes of making the last eight now looking very slim.

Having won the toss, Pothas must have been wondering if he had made the right decision to bat first when his side were tottering on 123-5.

But, from then on, nothing could part Benham and Pothas, not even a hamstring injury sustained by the home skipper which forced him to bat with the aid of a runner for at least half of his innings.

Benham raced to his fourth century in limited overs matches from 96 balls and Pothas, already in a rich vein of good form, kept him company with a deserved half century.

Leicestershire were then simply never up with the need to score at six runs an over.

Captain Nic Pothas told BBC Radio Solent:

"The partnership with Chris Benham gave us something to bowl at and chasing 300 at The Rose Bowl was always going to be tough.

"We know what it takes to play here and I thought we carried our job out pretty well.

"Chris' innings was phenomenal but now he needs to push on and become a regular in the four-day side. It was a brilliant knock."

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