HAMPSHIRE pace bowler Kyle Abbott revealed changes to his contract have given him more of a challenge after taking another five-fer yesterday.

Abbott, who took 5-90 before Hampshire’s batting disaster, said: “It’s good to be back. I’ve just got a few things to click at last. I’m bowling well again and contributing to the team.

“It wasn’t a great place I was in in the first couple of Championship games, but I’ve changed things around.

“I’ve been lacking in something to challenge me after coming out of international cricket and sort of having a point to prove.

“But I got here and wasn’t sure what my next thing was and things slipped a little bit. I’m a lot happier off the field – they say behind every good man there’s a good woman.

“I’ve had a lot of support to get through it. But the key thing has been to challenge myself. I’ve had to speak to the club about a couple of modifications in my contract to really challenge me. It’s only going to help me and help the club.”

Abbott added: “These two days haven’t been great for us, to be honest. We've really been behind the eight-ball. We had a good opportunity after lunch on the first day to rein them in and bowl them out cheaply, but we let it slip.

“As for the batting, I think the boys are a bit scared. It’s just a confidence thing in this format. It isn’t just this game, it’s been happening for a while now. I get a feeling that they’re scared and not backing ourselves and it’s showing in our scores. It’s disappointing after a great win last week.

"Since I’ve been at Hampshire we’ve had a tendency to be on top of the world one week and down at the bottom the next. I’m not too sure where the problem lies, but we’re certainly working on it.

“It’s going to be a battle for us tomorrow, a war of attrition and if the remainder of the batsmen can bat 80-100 balls each, which I don’t think is a big ask – we are professional cricketers after all– hopefully we can come out the right side.”