Nic Pothas struck his ninth championship hundred to put Hampshire in a commanding position against Middlesex at The Rose Bowl - before Andrew Strauss gave his county hope.

Pothas, unbeaten on 56 overnight, completed his ninth first class ton for the county and his first of the season as Hampshire claimed maximum batting points with a total of 426.

Together with Dominic Thornely (65 from 128 balls), Pothas put on 128 for the fifth wicket and a further 62 with Dimitri Mascarenhas (38 from 57 balls) for the sixth as Hampshire established a first innings lead of 328 over the visitors.

Pothas's Greek passport has enabled him to play for Hampshire as a non-overseas player for four years, but he needs British citizenship before he can put himself in contention for a place in one of Duncan Fletcher's Test squads.

That means he still has at least a year to wait before he qualifies to play for England but the good news is that, barring injury, he should be around all season for Hampshire.

On yesterday's form, that is a huge bonus.

Pothas faced 180 balls and struck 12 fours during his three and a half hour stay at the crease, and survived a huge appeal for caught behind from Chris Silverwood when on 99, as well as two lbw shouts, before reaching his 16th first class hundred with a scrambled single.

Shane Warne (22 from 26 balls) was caught at second slip soon afterwards and Pothas, caught at first slip, followed with no addition to the score in the following over.

Some lusty blows from Shaun Udal (28 from 23 balls) and a useful contribution from James Bruce (16 not out) took Hampshire past the 400-mark before Udal and Billy Taylor departed in successive overs

Importantly, Hampshire's effort with the bat helped ensure that Tony Pigott, the ECB's pitch liaison officer, was satisfied with the Rose Bowl wicket.

Pigott said: "It wasn't too bad at all. It was certainly better than the wicket I saw here last year. The consistency of bounce was fine."

Andrew Strauss, a centurion here for Middlesex in 2001, the Rose Bowl's first season, certainly seemed to enjoy the track.

He made amends for his first innings duck by finishing the day unbeaten on 117 from 175 balls.

The left-hander reached his 20th first class hundred with the 16th of his 17 fours, pulled through mid-wicket off Warne, in just 148 balls.

Warne dismissed Strauss no fewer than six times during last year's Ashes series, but had to be satisfied with the solitary wicket of Ed Smith yesterday.

Ben Hutton, the Middlesex skipper, put on 79 for the first wicket with Strauss before he was bowled in Shaun Udal's second over, the 25th of the innings, after coming down the wicket to the England man and missing.

Hutton was Udal's 700th victim in first class cricket and Smith (22) became Warne's first of the season when he was bowled through the gate 15 overs later. Jamie Dalrymple (27) was caught down the leg side after helping Strauss add 59 for the third wicket but Strauss was still there at stumps, enjoying time in the middle ahead of next week's first Test against Sri Lanka as Middlesex closed on 204-3, still 124 runs behind.