Weatherley toasts maiden County Championship half-century

The Hampshire Academy product struck 56 on the third day of his side’s clash at Nottinghamshire.

Weatherley looked comfortable at the crease with Jimmy Adams before he chipped a ball to Luke Fletcher at mid-on off the bowling of Samit Patel.

That sparked Adams and James Vince to both be dismissed before the close of play and Hampshire will begin tomorrow on 111 for three – having been set a total of 469 to win.

Weatherley was delighted to raise his bat to the pavilion for the first time in the County Championship.

But he felt he should have been at the crease for longer.

The opening batsman said: ‘We certainly weren’t looking at 460 or whatever it was.

‘It was a question of firstly getting through the first 12 overs until tea and then batting every ball as is comes. We were thinking more about the draw than the win.

‘Jim and I shared a good partnership but losing those few wickets opened it up for Notts.

‘I made a huge mistake and I’ve got to live with that and I’m very disappointed I’ve let Notts in there.

‘I felt good and I’d like to have thought I had a pretty good winter.

‘I played at the back end of the County Championship last year and learnt a lot – it was a bit of a realisation that it is hard work, especially against the new ball.

‘I wanted to hit the ground running early season and an opportunity has come earlier than expected.

‘Hopefully I can push on and I think this innings has helped that.

‘It’s more the mental side of opening the batting, coming back strong from a good ball you haven’t done much wrong with.’

Hampshire face an uphill task to salvage a result against Nottinghamshire.

They will face a minimum of 140 overs tomorrow and have seven wickets remaining.

However, Weatherley insisted the Ageas Bowl side can clinch a result.

He believes the pitch is nothing to worry about and is adamant his side have the talent to survive three sessions.

Weatherley added: ‘Obviously, to lose three wickets late on has hurt us a bit. But we’ve been in this position quite a bit over the past 18 months.

‘I think there’s enough capability in our dressing room to bat all day tomorrow.’

‘It’s a good wicket still and has been throughout the game and we’ve seen that from the way they batted – and also from the way we batted tonight certainly showed that.

‘Batting on their tonight there’s certainly no demons. There’s a bit of variable bounce but nothing there to say we can’t survive three sessions.’