An unbeaten century of 83 balls with 10 fours and two sixes by James Hildreth, who somewhat surprisingly will not be playing on this ground for England Lions next week, ensured victory for Somerset.

Hildreth put on 159 in 23 overs with Zander de Bruyn, an all-rounder of undoubted ability, although yet another South African to have come to county cricket down the Kolpak route. He had made 79 off 108 balls when he was held at long on and, after a few telling blows from Ian Blackwell, the man of the match when the sides played each other at Taunton last month, Somerset had all but wrapped up the match.

All this after Kevin Pietersen, on his first appearance of the season, had struck an entertaining 62 off 59 balls after Hampshire had been put in. The trademark shots were all there: one six lofted over long off, another slugged over midwicket, and any number of controlled drives which bisected the in-field. Only when he attempted something more ambitious, a sweep off the medium pace of de Bruyn did he lose his wicket.

Pietersen's innings included only four fours, but that had much to do with a slow pitch and an outfield that had been saturated during the week. John Crawley made the most composed half century of the innings, 51 off 55 balls including several elegant cover drives, and Sean Ervine the most rapid half century. His unbeaten 55 came from just 36 balls.

This after Michael Lumb and Michael Carberry had put on 83 in 20 overs for the first wicket. Somerset were without Justin Langer, who was suffering from a migraine, but in the event this scarcely mattered, not least because Shane Bond went off the field with a calf injury after bowling only five overs.

Hampshire

M J Lumb c Blackwell b Trego 55
M A Carberry c Kieswetter b Phillips 30
J P Crawley c Kieswetter b Jones 51
K P Pietersen b De Bruyn 62
S M Ervine not out 55
C C Benham not out 24
Extras (lb 4, w 5) 9
Total (4 wkts, 50 overs) 286

*N Pothas, G A Lamb, C T Tremlett, S E Bond and B V Taylor did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-83, 2-92, 3-191, 4-213.
Bowling: Willoughby 10-3-33-0; Jones 10-0-59-1; Phillips 9-0-62-1; Blackwell 7-1-38-0; Trego 7-1-34-1; De Bruyn 7-0-56-1.

Somerset

*M E Trescothick b Ervine 1
C Kieswetter c and b Lamb 46
Z de Bruyn c Lumb b Lamb 79
J C Hildreth not out 112
I D Blackwell c Ervine b Lamb 21
J D Francis c Taylor b Lamb 2
W J Durston not out 18
Extras (lb 2, w 5, nb 2) 9
Total (5 wkts, 48.3 overs) 288

P D Trego, B J Phillips, P S Jones and C M Willoughby did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-69, 3-228, 4-251, 5-262.
Bowling: Bond 5-1-24-0; Ervine 10-0-88-1; Tremlett 10-1-45-0; Taylor 9.3-0-48-0; Lamb 9-0-47-4; Pietersen 5-0-34-0.

Umpires: G Sharp and R T Robinson.