Robin Smith rescued Hampshire with his first championship ton in a year - but fell 19 runs short of the 25,000 club.

Smith had missed the Benson and Hedges Cup win against Middlesex so he could rest his bad back.

And he reaped the benefit yesterday after winning the toss against Kent and opting to bat on a Rose Bowl wicket that offered something for both the batsmen and the bowlers.

The Hampshire top order struggled early on against the away swing of Martin Saggers, who missed the championship opener between the two sides at Canterbury a fortnight ago because of injury.

Will Kendall and John Crawley were both dismissed by Saggers, who had found Derek Kenway's edge with the fifth ball of the day, only to see David Fulton put the chance down at first slip.

When Saggers, Kent's leading wicket-taker for the last two seasons, had Neil Johnson caught at first slip Hampshire were reeling desperately at 34-4.

That was the Zimbabwean's third championship duck in succession following his pair against Leicestershire.

But Smith held firm and with the help of Shaun Udal helped his side avoid a repeat of the Rose Bowl batting collapse that led to the innings defeat against Leicestershire.

Giles White and Nic Pothas offered brief support, but Hampshire threatened another collapse midway through the afternoon session when Ben Trott removed Pothas and Dimi Mascarenhas with the first and last ball of the 59th over.

Udal responded with his highest score for five years and his 88 included a straight six off Min Patel before he was trapped leg before by Trott who, like Saggers, was injured when the sides met at Canterbury two weeks ago.

But by then Hampshire had nudged past the 300 mark and that was due largely to the 109 run partnership for the eighth wicket between Udal and Smith, who reached his first championship hundred in a year by guiding Amjad Khan down to fine leg.

Smith's 235-ball 104 included 12 fours and was chanceless.

He had reached 50 with a trademark square cut before notching up his 48th century for Hampshire and his 60th in first class cricket.

But another 19 runs would have seen him become the 117th player to reach 25,000 in first class cricket.

"I'll get there in the second innings," he said afterwards.

Smith added: "I have always said that a captain should try and set an example.

"We lost a couple of early wickets and the ball was getting up and down a lot, which it tends to do at the Rose Bowl.

"But Shaun Udal played magnificently and I am delighted because we have got ourselves into a good position."

It was a good day for both captains.

Kent skipper David Fulton might have dropped Kenway off the fifth ball of the day but he went on to hold three catches at first slip.

And his bowling changes were handy as well.

No fewer than four of the wickets to fall came at the beginning of new spells.

SCOREBOARD:

HAMPSHIRE

First Innings

D A Kenway b Fleming 18

W S Kendall c Fulton b Saggers 10

J P Crawley lbw b Saggers 2

R A Smith c Symonds b Saggers 104

N C Johnson c Fulton b Saggers 0

G W White c Nixon b Khan 17

N Pothas c Nixon b Trott 24

A D Mascarenhas c Fulton b Trott 0

S D Udal lbw b Trott 88

J R C Hamblin not out 12

A D Mullally not out 0

Extras (b8 lb11 w9 pens 0) 28

Total (9 wkts, 104 overs) 303

Fow: 1-21 2-29 3-33 4-34 5-86 6-160, 7-160, 8-269, 9-302.

Bowling: Saggers 26-5-59-4 Trott 19-5-57-3 Fleming 13-6-24-1 Khan 18-2-80-1 Patel 21-3- 45-0 Symonds 7-3-19-0.

Umpires: A Clarkson and K E Palmer

Hampshire Won Toss