Paul Terry had never seen Derek Kenway bat before the Hampshire opener arrived for a winter in Perth seven months ago.

And, after six weeks as Hampshire first team manager, he had seen precious few runs from the former England Academy batsman before three of the best days of Kenway's career ended with a scintillating maiden one-day century on Sunday.

But that all changed in the space of 48 hours at the weekend.

Kenway's 115 against Somerset Sabres was the highest score by a Hampshire batsman in one-day league cricket for six years as well as his first century for the county in either form of the game for 22 months.

Dropped after two National League failures at the beginning of the season, Kenway first justified Terry's faith in him with a score of 94 in the championship against Somerset on Friday.

It would be unfair to say it was a case of blind faith. Terry saw plenty of evidence of Kenway's ability in the nets during the winter, but that was followed by an aggregate of 46 runs from the 24-year-old's next six innings.

So it was a huge relief when his pupil rediscovered the confidence that made him one of the country's brightest batting prospects before a forgettable 2002.

Terry, a former opening batsman himself, said: "I'd never seen Kenners play before the winter other than when I've popped into the ground in the past, but that has never been for any length of time.

"I was told he was a good player and people keep going on about how talented he is, which is all very well, but you have to prove it by getting runs on the board."

Last season, Kenway was dropped from the championship side in July, and did not play again in the four-day game until last month. "We worked on a few technical things in the winter but the most important thing was to get him to enjoy his cricket again," added Terry, above.

"His work ethic has been excellent and he needs to keep that up - he shouldn't need me or anyone else telling him to do that.

"How good he can be depends on what's in his head and only he can sort that out.

"He's got to keep working hard on his fitness and his cricket, but it was a relief for everybody to see him get runs.

"It's a difficult position at the top of the order, especially as we've played on a few wickets that have seamed around, but until Sunday we hadn't been getting away to the best of starts.

"Doing so makes it a lot easier to get a big total."

Kenway was given a standing ovation for his 143-ball 115, eight months after being persuaded not to leave the county he represented at schoolboy level.

His second fifty came in just 43 balls and gave him cricket's most valuable commodity - confidence.

"He had a difficult season last year and had been going through a bit of a rough patch again this year but when he plays well he's a very important part of the side," added Terry. "Not only is he an opening bat but he's an attacking opening player which suits us.

"The fact that he had to graft for his runs before they started to come easily for him should do him the world of good.

"He won't be able to play the same way all the time, sometimes he's got to knuckle down, but he started to get it right against Oxford UCCE.

"He was unlucky to get a beauty from Nixon McLean on Saturday morning but after regaining confidence on the Friday he was always going to play on Sunday.

"It turned out to be one good weekend, but hopefully there will be several more for Kenners."