Paul Terry is backing Derek Kenway to come good against Somerset tomorrow.
Kenway, pictured, was dropped from the one day side after failures in the first two National League games but has retained his place in the championship despite an aggregate of 43 runs from five innings so far this season.
The opening batsman spent the winter being coached by Terry after a miserable 2002 but Hampshire's manager reckons the 24-year-old will find the confidence he needs sooner rather than later.
Terry said: "We're still early in the season and Derek just needs a good innings to get himself moving.
"If you do not get a bit of time in the middle you start to wonder a little bit where the next run is coming from but usually it is just around the corner.
"That is how cricket goes, you just have to keep working.
"Everyone knows that he can play, it's just a case of him getting the bit of luck that he needs.
"He's got to back himself and really needs to get some time in the middle under his belt."
Kenway's only runs of note this season were scored against Oxford UCCE in The Parks, when he scored 35 and 68 in one of Hampshire's four rain-affected draws.
John Francis was available for selection, as he was against Gloucestershire last week, but he will play for the second XI against Somerset at Taunton
Terry added: "The guys haven't played an awful lot of cricket and haven't done an awful lot wrong."
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