JIMMY Adams says Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw have brought a “priceless” attitude as Hampshire aim to begin a season with back-to-back wins for the first time in 13 years.

Hampshire play their first home game of the Specsavers County Championship season against defending champions Middlesex over the Easter weekend, buoyed by their stunning win over Yorkshire at Headingley.

Rossouw will make his home debut, while Abbott will be playing at The Ageas Bowl for the first time since his first spell with the county in 2014, fresh from inspiring Hampshire’s Headingley comeback by taking 7-41 in Yorkshire’s second innings.

The Kolpak duo were controversial signings back in January, but Adams says: “When Kyle first arrived, one of the first things he asked me was ‘do the guys think we can win division one?’

“That made a big impact on me, I just thought ‘wow’ and told him to say the same to the rest of the guys.

“We got a fair bit of stick for bringing in Kyle and Rilee but that attitude is priceless and it’s rubbing off on everyone else.

“It’s a sea change from where we’ve been before.”

Adams was once again instrumental in a successful Headingley run chase on Sunday, top scoring with 72 as Hampshire chased down 320 - 11 years after his unbeaten 168 ensured a 404-run target was reached under Warne.

This win was made extra special by being Hampshire’s first in their opening game since 2009.

“It gives you an amazing feeling as we’ve had a lot of seasons where we’ve been searching for that first win for a while,” said Adams, who was out for five as Hampshire ended the first innings 132 behind.

After beginning day three on 10-0, he shared an opening stand of 91 with Michael Carberry (41) and a further 69 with James Vince (44) before he was trapped lbw by off-spinner Azeem Rafiq.

“We knew the first spell of the day would be critical against the new ball,” he said.

"Ben Coad ran through us in the first innings, but Carbs and I were dropped in successive overs and when they went down I felt the game may be turning.

"It could have been very different if we'd been 20-2 and we got to lunch in a very good position at 103-1.

"We lost Sluggo (Sean Ervine) just before tea and from 175-2 were suddenly 200-4 and ten overs from the [second] new ball.

"But their two main bowlers had done a lot of overs and we had the feeling it was game on.

"Everyone was thinking positively about the chase. I’m not the best watcher so I took myself away but Daws' (Liam Dawson), Rilee [Rossouw], and Bergy (Gareth Berg) played beautifully to see us over the line, under far more pressure than I had to deal with.

"You have to go back a long way to the last time we won the first game of the year so to win the way we did .... I was just pleasantly surprised to be playing after the signings we made!"

Carberry is like a new signing, given his cancer diagnosis last July.

"Just to have Carbs back is absolutely brilliant and has reminded us not to take anything for granted," added Adams.

"Without wanting to put too much pressure on him, he’s batting like he was when he was one of the country’s leading batsmen in 2010.

"I’m sure he’ll have a wonderful season and be one of our leading batsmen again."