Wasim Akram took his first wickets for Hampshire and insisted: "The best is yet to come."

The 36-year-old had not played first class cricket since he last played for Pakistan until yesterday but finished with 2-62 from his 20 overs.

Wasim removed Anurag Singh and Gareth Batty in carbon copy fashion, pinning both in front with the first and last wickets on the first day of Hampshire's season.

He said: "I'm quite happy but I'm not at my best yet. I haven't played a full day for a few years and will take a couple of games to get back to what I know I can do.

"Hopefully that will come back eventually. The more bowling I do, the better I will become. The ball is swinging a bit but it is a very slow wicket. I think we're in a good position.

"They were 240-3 and now we've got seven - we battled back well and I'm backing the batsmen we've got to do well on this wicket.

"They have probably got 30 more runs than they should have done but, considering this is our first game, I think Ed Giddins and Alan Mullally bowled very well."

The forecast is not promising as rain is expected on Sunday and Monday, but Wasim is positive.

He added: "This is four day cricket, we've got every chance of winning."

First team manager Paul Terry said: "Generally we stuck to our task very well. Wasim felt that he was getting back into the swing of it in his second spell when he bowled to Graeme Hick.

"The slow pace of the wicket takes some adapting to but getting Hick out when we did was a bonus - he was looking ominous.

"Ed Giddins going off for so long wasn't ideal but he's bowling fine now despite the stitches."