SHAUN Udal celebrated his first game in charge of Hampshire with an emphatic 275-run victory over Somerset at The Rose Bowl last Sunday.

Having only been given the job the day before, the game started well for Udal as he won the toss and elected to bat.

The captain then played his part as he scored a half-century, coming in at number nine and shared a partnership of 80 with Chris Tremlett (57), which included three sixes.

Earlier in the Hampshire innings of 290, Michael Brown top-scored with 81, which included 11 fours and two sixes.

The visitors' top bowlers were Andy Caddick (4-75) and Simon Francis (4-57).

Somerset's reply was built around a 61 from James Hildreth, and with Richard Johnson (ankle) and Keith Parsons (back) unable to bat, the West County side finished on 203-8.

But in the process, Dimitri Mascarenhas (3-45) suffered a back injury and Shane Watson, bowling during that innings, pulled a hamstring.

This left Hampshire down to three recognised bowlers, so it was important they made a good score in their second innings.

However, it did not look good as they struggled to 131-7, with John Crawley's 40 the only score of note.

At this point, captain Udal joined Australian Watson - who was able to bat, but with a runner - and the pair put together a match-winning partnership of 158 for the eighth wicket, before Udal was bowled by Francis for 74.

Watson remained to the end on an unbeaten 112 in a total of 334, setting Somerset a target of 422 for victory.

Once again, the visitors only had nine batsmen, and they were soon in trouble as Tremlett (3-43) and Billy Taylor (3-38) got to work.

Keith Dutch was the top scorer in the visitors' innings with 60 as was the last man out with the score on 146.