DAY 2 Hampshire made 305 in reply to Nottinghamshire's 270

Jimmy Adams continued his outstanding record against Nottinghamshire to help Hampshire establish a first-innings lead against the LV= County Championship leaders at Trent Bridge.

The left-hander was denied his second Championship hundred of the season when he became one of three wickets to fall shortly before tea as Hampshire slipped from 154-2 to 168-5 in reply to Notts’ 270.

But Hampshire recovered to post 305 and Adams’ 96 (213 balls, 17 fours) laid the foundation for the 35-run lead.

He might not have got close to the career-best 262 he made on the same ground four years ago, but it was arguably a more valuable innings in the context of a match that will end in a positive result.

Adams’ 115-run partnership for the third-wicket with Chris Benham was an outstanding effort against some high-quality seam bowling on a wicket that is providing encouraging assistance for the bowlers.

“You don’t get many easy runs these days and it was tough,” said Adams, who has scored more Championship runs against Notts than any other county (813 at 67).

“We had to work extremely hard because they were very well disciplined and bowled really well.

"We had to watch the ball and try and wait for a let up because they stuck to their guns. But we’re in a good position.”

Adams and Benham batted for 50 overs together after nightwatchman James Tomlinson was dismissed in the second over of the morning.

Dropped on 37 by second-slip Neil Edwards during a luckless opening spell from his namesake Andre, Adams capitalised on his reprieve.

Benham was also put down on 20, by a diving Chris Read after driving hard at Darren Pattinson, and he made a gutsy 38 (148 balls) before he was bowled off his pads by Charlie Shreck.

Three overs later, Paul Franks celebrated a double wicket maiden as Hampshire wobbled.

Having swept slow left armer Samit Patel out of the attack with three fours in an over to bring up Hampshire’s fifth century stand of the season, Adams got a nick against Franks.

Then James Vince (0) clipped the Notts seamer straight to Steve Mullaney at mid-wicket.

But Neil McKenzie and Nic Pothas used all their experience to guide Hampshire to tea without any further loss, adding 74 vital runs for the sixth wicket.

Having batted himself into form during the Clydesdale Bank 40 defeat against Warwickshire on Friday night, McKenzie registered his maiden Championship fifty, a fluent 55 from only 78 balls.

But only 15 overs of the day remained when he was lbw playing around a full-length Pattinson delivery – the first of five Hampshire wickets to fall in the last hour.

The last four went to the impressive Adams.

Pothas was unfortunate to be lbw to an off cutter that looked high - but Adams made short work of Hampshire’s tail.

Sean Ervine was left unbeaten on 31 when Rangana Herath nicked the penultimate scheduled ball of the day to first slip.

Two days of a fascinating match remain. Notts overturned a 22-run first-innings deficit to beat Somerset at Trent Bridge recently but Adams believes Hampshire can continue to upset the form book by ending the leaders’ 100 per cent record.

He said: “We could have put ourselves in an even stronger position because they pegged us back again at the end.

"We’re going to have to bowl well again but hopefully our 35-run lead proves significant.”

Notts bowling: Pattinson 24-7-58-3, Shreck 26-9-70-1, Adams 25.5-8-56-4, Franks 20-5-57-2, Mullaney 5-1-15-0, Patel 4-1-22-0