Jake Lehmann notches first Hampshire ton to secure rain-affected draw

Hampshire 214 (Organ 55, O'Neill 5-51). 207 for 6 (Lehmann 102*, O'Neill 3-35) drew with Nottinghamshire 229 (Slater 48, Patterson-White 48, Baker 5-45, Abbott 4-40) by 67 runs

Jake Lehmann converted a fifty into three figures at the sixth attempt as Hampshire avoided defeat at home in the Rothesay County Championship for the first time in 10 months.

Champions. table-toppers Nottinghamshire had hoped to rip through the hosts on the final day to secure victory, but found Lehmann blocking their path. The Australian. who qualifies as a domestic player, had scored five half-centuries - all in succession - earlier in the season before batting out the day for a 205-ball 102.

Both sides take 11 points from the match, enough to keep Nottinghamshire top,. not enough for Hampshire to escape the bottom.

If this match hadn't lost almost 140 overs to rain, it would likely have been a thriller. All three results had still looked vaguely possible at the start of the final day,. Hampshire needed to score runs at a decent rate, Nottinghamshire had to claim the remaining six wickets quickly, or a draw became the favourite.

Rain half an hour into play took most of the jeopardy out of the day. even though Ben Brown had edged Fergus O'Neill to first slip, giving the Australian quick his eighth wicket of the match. His 8 for 86 were his best match figures for Nottinghamshire.

Having taken lunch early, the afternoon was also delayed,. by the time play resumed, there were just 59 overs left in the day.

The Nottinghamshire attack, which had bowled well throughout, continued to bang the ball in, but Lehmann, with first Delano Potgieter. then Felix Organ, ensured it was without reward.

Lehmann, the son of Australia great. Northamptonshire head coach Darren, has been a rare bright spark in Hampshire's underperforming batting line-up. On this occasion, he was unperturbed by the threat of any collapse by batting at his pace - mainly blocking. occasionally climbing into a lavish cut or a well-timed drive.

His unconventional stance, almost standing completely front on when the ball is delivered, looks susceptible to lbws. tough getting the ball onto the off side, but a mixture of quick hands and repositioned feet means he is difficult to dismiss.

Lehmann had struck twin fifties against Yorkshire. Somerset, plus an 89 against Essex, but couldn't break through to three figures. And while he stuttered his way through the late 80s. early 90s, he reached his century - the 17th of his first-class career - with a flick off his hips for four.

Potgieter, who joined earlier in the week as a replacement for the ineffective Codi Yusuf, had a solid debut. A 15 in the first innings was followed by a tidy bowling display and a deserved wicket. He stuck around with Lehmann for the second-highest partnership of the low-scoring match, worth 65 runs, before a slog sweep went straight up. he was caught.

Organ simply completed the mission to share the points by digging in for over an hour. Hands were shaken at the earliest possible time in the middle of a rare Joe Clarke over.

Nottinghamshire still haven't won in the Championship at Utilita Bowl since 2010.