By Neil Hallam at Leicester
First day of four: Hampshire 276-6 v Leics
ADRIAN Aymes's reputation as one of county cricket's most reliable wicketkeeper-batsmen was underlined by a career-best unbeaten 116 as Hampshire took their first batting points of the season in reaching 276 for six against a depleted Leicestershire attack.
Aymes, unbeaten in six of his 13 previous innings, provided the blend of watchfulness and selectivity Hampshire needed to add durability to a batting order prone to steep collapse. Maintaining his concentration, he hit 14 fours in completing his fourth first-class century, and second in the championship, in 202 minutes off 217 balls.
Hampshire hardly seemed primed for such prosperity at 85 for four against a side deprived of Chris Lewis and Darren Maddy (Texaco Trophy duty), James Whitaker, James Ormond and David Millns (fitness problems) and, after only 14 overs, the bowling of Phil Simmons (side strain).
Jason Laney, Giles White and Matt Keech maintained lean form with injudicious strokes and Alan Mullally found a modicum of extra bounce to dislodge Robin Smith, but Aymes and Dimitri Mascarenhas added 114 in 46 overs.
Mascarenhas fell pushing at some away-swing but Aymes stayed at the crease for 282 minutes to build Hampshire a useful platform.
Day 2: McLean's speed traps the drive of Hampshire
By Neil Hallam at Leicester
Second day of four: Leics (122-5) trail Hants (361) by 239 runs
THE steering did not always function precisely but the accelerator was certainly in full working order as fast bowler Nixon McLean ran down Leicestershire's upper batting to underline the advantage claimed by Hampshire's batsmen on a day from which bad light trimmed 41 overs.
Even on a mild pitch, McLean was able to demonstrate why he is now rated by many the fastest of the West Indies bowlers as he claimed five for 45 in 14.2 overs to leave Leicestershire 90 runs shy of the follow-on total of 212 when the third stoppage proved terminal.
McLean achieved several moral victories over Vince Wells before a loose forcing stroke carried to second slip and the severely discriminating finger of Dickie Bird was raised instantly when Iain Sutcliffe, stepping across to work off his legs, was pinned in front by a ball of full length.
Ben Smith, who launched his innings with four overthrows, had seven fours out of eight scoring strokes before McLean retaliated by plucking out his off stump with a ball he can barely have seen in the deteriorating light. Phil Simmons, chopping a stroke into his stumps, and Jon Dakin also fell victim to McLean.
Hampshire, 276 for six overnight, scored another 85 in 25.5 overs with Adrian Aymes moving on to a career-best 133 and the tail-enders adding further to the frustrations of a depleted attack.
Day 3: McLean keeps up pace tradition
By Neil Hallam at Grace Road
Third day of four: Leicestershire v Hampshire
TEST batsmen comforted by the fond thought that even the phenomenonally durable Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh cannot keep going much longer would be unwise to imagine that the retirement of these veterans will leave the West Indies with nobody to put the wind up them.
Nixon McLean, the St Vincent fast-bowler who served notice of his potential on England in the Caribbean last winter, is furthering his education with Hampshire, and one international cricketer in a good position to judge reckons his name will soon be making good batsmen tremble.
``Nixon is already the quickest of the bowlers in the West Indies squad,'' said Trinidadian all-rounder Phil Simmons, one of McLean's victims as he took the first six wickets to fall before Leicestershire's declaration at 305 for seven, a total built around Aftab Habib's impressively disciplined 112.
``I certainly can't see it being very long before he establishes himself as a fixture in the West Indies side,'' added Simmons. ``He's still a young guy, he's got a terrific action and his spell on Friday night was as fast as anything I've seen from anybody for quite some time.
``There's not a lot of pace in the pitch but he was very hard to pick up and the ball was hitting the wicketkeeper's gloves head-high with a terrific whack.''
The danger for McLean with a county for which no bowler managed more than 35 championship wickets last season is that there will always be the temptation to over-use him. Tiredness may, indeed, have been a factor as McLean, who took his first five wickets for 43, ended with six for 101 from 28 overs after struggling with his run-up and opting for a time to operate off only three paces.
Even then he was no comfortable proposition but Leicestershire team manager Jack Whitaker and captain James Whitaker rate Habib the most naturally talented batsman on the staff and he underlined this view in a thoroughly responsible innings which rescued Leicestershire from the threat of the follow-on at 122 for five.
The fourth century of Habib's career occupied almost five hours, with 14 fours, and he shared stands of 77 in 29 overs with the gritty Paul Nixon and 106 in 25 overs with Dominic Williamson before chipping Dmitri Mascarenhas wearily to mid-off to prompt the declaration 56 runs in arrears.
Day 4: Hampshire collapse along with the contest
By Neil Hallam at Leicester
Hants (361 & 276-8) drew with Leics (305-7 dec)
THE truth of the adage 'nothing succeeds like success' was open to question at Grace Road as Leicestershire's joy at claiming three Hampshire wickets for 19 runs in the first 16 overs of the day virtually killed the game as a contest and condemned it instead to the most tedious of draws.
Choruses of ``boring, boring'' and outbreaks of slow handclapping startled the snoozers during the final session of a soporific day but the truth was that Hampshire's early collapse to 77 for six of necessity committed them to an attritional rearguard action when they might otherwise have considered going on the offensive to set Leicestershire a target.
Leicestershire, with an attack lacking David Millns, Phil Simmons, James Ormond and Chris Lewis through injury, illness or England duty, did not have the firepower to dislodge them on a bland pitch.
Long before the end they appeared to be reserving their energies for today's AXA League game between these sides and, more particularly, for Wednesday's Benson and Hedges Cup quarter-final at home to Kent.
All of which meant there were few alarms for Dimitri Mascarenhas (63), Shaun Udal (62) and Kevan James, whose unbeaten 55 chloroformed proceedings for 69 overs, as they piloted Hampshire to 276 for eight before a declaration put an end to the futility.
Alan Mullally had match figures of eight for 117 to promote his claims to selectorial notice but the abiding memory of this weather-hit game may well be of Udal blowing kisses to the barrackers after punctuating Hampshire's resistance with a six over long-on.