Hampshire groundsman Nigel Gray is confident that the Rose Bowl square will provide better wickets this summer.

Hampshire begin their third season at the Rose Bowl tomorrow with the deduction of eight points for an unsatisfactory surface still fresh in the memory.

But Gray and his staff have been working hard throughout the winter and are hoping that the pre-season run glut against Somerset and Surrey continues.

Gray said: "It's been another year of renovation work but the maturation process has continued and the evidence of the two practice games is very encouraging.

"There was only a 50-yard boundary for one of the games but they were both against first class sides. The two wickets we used were at each end of the square and both played well and there's no reason to suppose that the others won't.

"We've gone through the same process we do every year and we started work as soon as the season finished. We had a slightly wet autumn which held us up slightly but we were ready in time for pre-season."

The recent wet spell will inevitably have an influence on this week's Rose Bowl track.

Gray added: "The ECB requires us to prepare the best pitch possible in any circumstances and if it's been wet it's going to have a bearing on the surface.

"Realistically the wicket for the Yorkshire game will not be lightning quick, there's a lot of moisture in the ground and damp in the air so the drying conditions are not the greatest. I don't expect the wicket to be too dramatic, it should be fairly medium paced."