ROBIN SMITH hailed John Crawley's debut double ton as 'inspiring' - but Hampshire face an injury crisis ahead of tomorrow's visit of Leicestershire to the Rose Bowl.
Crawley's nine-and-a-half hour 272 against Kent is the highest score by a Hampshire player since the war.
And it provided the backbone of an innings total of 671-8 - the club's biggest since 1899.
Smith batted with Crawley for the first time since England beat the West Indies at Old Trafford in July 1995 before he was trapped leg before for 31 on Sunday.
And he said: "John Crawley was magnificent. His concentration was unbelievable and he showed what a class player he is. His shot selection was superb.
"But I wasn't surprised because he has been England's most consistent player at county level over the last ten years and it was nice to bat with him again."It was inspiring to see him in that form and his partnership with Neil Johnson was the turning point of the match for us.
"Had they got out early on we could have been made to follow on. We would have had to bat under pressure and on the last day anything could have happened.
"I was proud of the team effort and was delighted with the attitude. We hadn't had much match practice going into the game and we didn't bowl as well as we can, but as it's turned out we've played wonderfully well.
"Kent are a very competitive side at Canterbury, so to reply to 577 and finish with more points than them says a lot. We batted with great resilience."
Hampshire welcome Leicestershire in the county championship for the first home game of the season tomorrow.
But they will be without veteran pair Adie Aymes and Shaun Udal, with Alex Morris also a doubt with back trouble.
Aymes suffered medial ligament damage in diving for a catch on Saturday and he is expected to be out for three weeks so Nic Pothas will keep wicket tomorrow.
Udal damaged ligaments in the thumb of his spinning finger when Kent seamer Jamie Hewitt found some lift from just short of a length yesterday.
An X-ray showed no fracture but Udal is almost certain to miss out tomorrow.
Morris, meanwhile, could also be out after suffering a back spasm during the draw at Canterbury.
"We'll know more about the injuries in the next 24 hours," said Smith.
Dimitri Mascarenhas was left out of the side at Kent because of Achilles heel trouble but could now be handed a recall.
Meanwhile, Giles White has hit three centuries in as many innings for the Second XI since being dropped for the first time in two years last week.
"Giles has done very, very well and has shown the attitude we are looking for," added Smith.
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