TOM Alsop hit an unbeaten century as Hampshire won their Royal London One-Day Cup south group opener by six wickets against Kent Spitfires at Canterbury.

James Vince’s side recovered from a patchy start at a cold, overcast St Lawrence ground and went on to dominate the last two-thirds of the match with opening bat Alsop (112no) seeing his side home with with 29 balls to spare in his second appearance of the season.

South Wilts’ Australian all-rounder Ian Holland, a British passport holder, took 2-57 on his Hampshire debut after some impressive performances for the 2nd XI as Kent were bowled out for 258.

Hampshire soon lost former Kent opener Michael Carberry, the former Kent and England opener, lbw to Wayne Parnell’s second delivery of the game. It also proved to be the first and only maiden of the match.

Matt Coles offered nothing like the same consistency at the Pavilion End and was soon replaced as second-wicket partners Vince and Tom bolted, adding 112 in 16 overs.

Vince’s majestic 50-ball 69 ended when he worked across one from Darren Stevens, but Alsop became the game’s fourth half-century maker after facing 61 balls.

Mitch Claydon jagged one down the slope and through the gate to clip Liam Dawson’s leg stump, then found the leading edge of Jimmy Adams’s bat for a looping catch to mid-off.

It proved a false dawn under the floodlights however, as Alsop teamed up with Sean Ervine (33*) to add an unbroken 82 for the fifth wicket and ease their side over the line.

Alsop, who hit his first 50-over century against Surrey last year, reached three figures from 125 balls and with a dozen fours.

At the other end of the cricketing age scale, Kent’s veteran all-rounder Stevens top scored with 60 to spare his side’s batting blushes after they had threatened to waste a promising start.

The all-rounder, who turns 41 on Sunday, hit three sixes and a brace of fours to ensure the hosts posted 258 after being invited to bat first.

Spitfires laid decent foundations through Joe Denly (45) and Daniel Bell Drummond (56), whose first-wicket stand of 94 in 15.2 overs ended when Denly miscued to mid-on against left-arm spinner Dawson.

On a slightly two-paced pitch, Kent’s innings tailed off meekly thereafter with only Stevens providing any form of prolonged resistance.

Sean Dickson cut a short one to cover point then, after reaching a 63-ball 50, Bell-Drummond flat-batted low to a diving Chris Wood at cover.

Soon after, Wood left the field with a side strain midway through his sixth over in his first limited-overs game since August 2015.

But Kent wickets continued to fall with spinners Dawson and Mason Crane particularly impressive.

“They executed their skills really well,” said Vince.

"After the first 10 to 12 overs we I thought we bowled well, weremembered our plans and kept Kent down to what we thought was a 'getable' score.

"In 50 overs cricket it's important to take wickets regularly as it's the best way to stop the flow of runs.

"We'd talked about that before hand, so it was pleasing we managed to keep chipping away.

"With bad weather about this isn't the easiest place to come and win, so my partnership up front with Tommy kick-started our innings and set up the chase.

"For Tommy to bat through was an excellent effort and I'm really pleased for him. 

"We needed someone to grab the innings by the throat. He took the options he is best at and did a great job for us."

Daniel Bell-Drummond, Kent's sole batsman to pass 50, felt the hosts were a little ring rusty with their white-ball skills.

He said: "It was a tough start for us and we're disappointed to lose the first one. We got off to a god start batting wise through myself and Joe [Denly], but their bowlers pegged us back nicely with their two spinners showing up well in the middle. We felt 260 was at least 20 runs short of where we needed to be.

"Once Hampshire got their lines and lengths right it got a lot tougher for us and we lost wickets at regular intervals. I felt I should have batted on and taken it deep, but it wasn't to be. Losing wickets at key stages meant we could never build partnerships, so all credit to them."

Hampshire bowling: Wood 5.3-0-30-0, Topley 9.4-0-65-3, Holland 10-0-57-2, Dawson 10-0-41-2, Crane 10-0-44-2, Ervine 4.3-0-17-1