LV COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE, The Rose Bowl:
Match Drawn. Hampshire 512 & 37-2, Somerset 524
Somerset 8 pts, Hampshire 7 pts
Match scorecard

Jos Buttler's has played just four first-class matches

Hampshire's winless start to the season continued as they played out a high-scoring draw with Somerset.

Resuming on 441-6 and Jos Buttler increased his overnight career-best score to 144, before falling to Rangana Herath (4-98).

Damien Wright added 51 as imaginative Hampshire captain Nic Pothas used 10 bowlers on a flat Rose Bowl pitch.

The home side closed their second innings on 37-2, as both captains shook hands on an early finish.

The final day's play was tepid fare, but Buttler continued his fine innings, remaining cool and composed at the crease, showing the same dogged determination and decent range of shots which characterised his fuss-free progression to three figures.

He put on 103 for the seventh wicket with Wright in 29 overs. And, after tail-ender Ben Phillips chopped an attempted cut off Herath into his stumps, Buttler began to open his shoulders.

But, with his score on 144, he chanced his arm once too often, holing out to deep mid-on.

Hampshire did their best to make the match interesting, beginning their second innings in abysmal fashion when Jimmy Adams edged Willoughby to Marcus Trescothick for a duck in the first over. And fellow opener Michael Carberry followed in near identical fashion just two runs later.

But even the most excitable of Somerset fans were unable to muster anything other than lukewarm enthusiasm, as Dawson combined with the experienced South African batsman Neil McKenzie to prod Hampshire timidly to the close.

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