Alastair Cook century gives Essex Pro40 victory over Hampshire

Essex (249-3) bt Hampshire (246-5) by 7 wkts

Alastair Cook celebrated his first NatWest Pro 40 outing of the season with a match-winning 104 to see Essex home by seven wickets in their duel against Hampshire at Chelmsford.

The England opener hammered 13 fours while gathering his runs from 102 deliveries as Essex passed their opponents' total of 246 for five with seven balls to spare.

Sharing the honours with Cook was Varun Chopra. The pair came together in the sixth over after two wickets had fallen for 26 and proceeded to add 192 in 30 overs, a county second-wicket record in the competition.

Chopra also scored a century, finishing unbeaten on 101 from 107 balls, nine of which he dispatched for four.

But Chopra needed slices of luck on his way. Imran Tahir put down a simple return catch when the batsman had reached 51 and, 12 runs later, the same bowler saw wicket-keeper, Nic Pothas, spill a straightforward opportunity.

Cook's fine effort finally came to an end when he gave a return catch to medium pace bowler David Balcombe.

But by then Essex were only 29 short of their target and Chopra and Ryan ten Doeschate saw them home without further setbacks.

James Vince had become the youngest Hampshire player to hit a half-century in limited overs cricket.

The 18-year-old, coming in at number three, struck a superb 93 to provide the backbone of his side's total.

The youngster never looked in the slightest trouble and it needed a brilliant stumping by James Foster to dismiss him in the final over of the innings.

A feature of his effort was the way he found the gaps to keep the scoreboard ticking over, something emphasised by the fact that his 95-ball innings contained just six boundaries.

Vince's main support came from Liam Dawson, the pair coming together in the 21st over with the total on 101 for four.

They added 140 in 19 overs as Dawson went on to finish unbeaten on 69 from 56 balls after helping himself to five fours and the only six of the innings.

Hampshire's momentum arrived in the final five overs of their innings as 62 runs were added, by which time 21-year-old fast bowler Mervyn Westfield had finished his eight-over spell.

He was easily the pick of the Essex bowlers, conceding just 32 while picking up the wickets of Michael Lumb and Sean Ervine.