AS if to rub salt into Hampshire’s wounds, Sussex centurion Ben Brown revealed that Nic Pothas contributed to his Ageas Bowl heroics.

Brown put Sussex in charge of the south-coast derby with an unbeaten 144, before thanking Pothas, the county’s new wicketkeeping and batting consultant.

He said: “Nic has helped me a lot so it’s ironic I get a big score at Hampshire. He has been excellent for all the batters.

"He’s someone who has been there and done it, scored a lot of runs and as a keeper-batter he has been fabulous for me.

“He talks about angles and methods of scoring runs rather than just technique so that really helped. It’s nice to have a guy in your corner who’s been there and done it as a keeper-batter.”

No doubt Pothas, who was released by Hampshire in 2011 after a decade of sterling service, is enjoying the pitting of wits against Dale Benkenstein, his friend and former South Africa A teammate.

Hampshire coach Benkenstein said: “We now know what we’re up against. The extra pace and aggression they had is what we’re going to see from most sides so it’s up to us to learn from this.

“We would have liked to have them 200 all out after getting them 20 for three.

“Berg bowled really well but we missed an opportunity there - he had 2-6 from six overs and came off – with other bowlers you wouldn’t have got the ball out of their hands!”