HAMPSHIRE captain James Vince is confident a first win of the season is not far away after a third successive Specsavers County Championship draw.

Under Vince, Hampshire have lost just one of their nine Championship matches and they strengthened their hard-to-beat reputation on the final day against Middlesex at The Ageas Bowl.

They began it on 76-1 in their second innings, a lead of 51, and after half-centuries from Jimmy Adams (70) and Adam Wheater (57no) there was the remote possibility of a win when they declared 265 ahead on 290-5.

“We knew we had to bat well this morning, the guys applied themselves well and, with 32 overs left, we had a very small chance of getting something,” said Vince.

“They were missing Adam Voges and we had a good shout for lbw against Compton. If that had been given they would have effectively been three down with 25 overs to go.”

Relishing the chance of another spell, Tino Best claimed his first wicket for Hampshire before hands were shaken at 5pm.

The West Indian extracted extra bounce to have England hopeful Sam Robson caught behind for a three-ball duck.

Vince reckons he bowled faster than 90mph at times.

“He bowled some quick balls, I’m sure he got the other side of 90 on quite a few occasions and he was unlucky not to get a wicket in his first spell [on day two]. He’s a good weapon to have.

“You want someone who can come in and bowl quick and put the opposition on the back foot.

“As he bowls more, hopefully his spells become longer.”

Middlesex also had faint hope of a win on the final day.

Vince sliced an attempted drive against Toby Roland- Jones high to backward point in the tenth over. “Perhaps I should have left that ball alone,” he said.

After Will Smith was lbw to Tim Murtagh, Liam Dawson and Adams shared a 53-run stand before they were dismissed in successive Steve Finn overs, the former to a ball that kept low.

But Wheater and Ryan McLaren shared an unbroken 104-run partnership before the declaration.

“It wasn’t the easiest wicket with variable bounce from the word go, but all in all it was a pretty good four-day pitch,” said Vince, who leads his side against Lancashire at Old Trafford from Sunday.

“We’re getting better and better each game. In the first two games we scrapped hard to get a draw so it was nice to look for the win at times.

“If the rain hadn’t come [on day two] I really think we could have got right on top of them.”