John Crawley was awarded his county cap before making his home debut for Hampshire yesterday - and described it as a day to remember.

Crawley, fresh from scoring a record-breaking 272 at Kent, spent the day in the field at the Rose Bowl as Leicestershire finished on 389-6.

But that was only after being presented with his county cap before the start of play.

Crawley's new teammates lined up outside the new £2m pavilion with chairman Rod Bransgrove and new chief executive Graham Walker both present.

He said: "It was a big surprise to me. I asked the guys when we were walking down the stairs what we were waiting for but soon found out. I was very grateful to receive it."

Crawley, who last played at the Rose Bowl for Lancashire in a Norwich Union League clash in August, added: "The pitch had a little bit of life early on but then went fairly flat. It's still a reasonably slow pitch and Leicestershire will probably be a bit more pleased with how the day went than Hamsphire.

"We could have stopped them getting 70 or 80 runs but, having said that, it looks like a good pitch. It doesn't look like the sort of wicket that you can blast people out on. It's a little bit slow for the bowlers but you have to graft hard to get your runs."

Crawley was besieged by autograph hunters as he came off the field at the end of his first day of play at West End. "It was a lovely day," he added. "There was quite a good crowd and getting the cap helped make it a day to remember.

"It's excellent here, the whole place is devloping very nicely. People enjoy watching cricket here and they enjoy playing cricket here. The Leicestershire players have been very complimentary about the ground, it's got a big future."

Robin Smith used seven bowlers yesterday, although Dimi Mascarenhas could only bowl four balls before he limped off the field during the morning session nursing a damaged back.

Shaun Udal had passed a late fitness test after the thumb of his spinning finger was bruised against Kent but Alex Morris and Adie Aymes were both ruled out. Morris suffered a back spasm during the trip to Canterbury and Adie Aymes is out for three weeks with medial ligament damage.

Physio Patrick Farhart said: "It's unbelievable. I don't think Dimi's back injury is anything to do with compensating for his last injury, it's just bad luck."