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Nick Gubbins and Liam Dawson each collected their third County Championship century of the season as Hampshire piled on the runs to reach 373-4 against Worcestershire.
Left-hander Gubbins hit 153, his highest score for Hampshire since arriving from Middlesex in 2021.
He put on 129 with James Vince (57) before adding a further unbroken stand of 199 with Dawson.
Fletcha Middleton first out, was clean bowed by a beautiful delivery from Tom Taylor, who then found Toby Albert’s edge in his next over.
But Vince bedded in with Gubbins, the unlikely aggressor of the pair with cuts off Logan van Beek his favoured method of scoring quick runs.
Vince eventually went after attempting a big sweep against on-loan spinner Amar Virdi, missed the ball but then discovered that a bail had been dislodged.
The umpires conferred as Vince remained unmoved – thinking it had been broken by the wicketkeeper’s glove or arm – but ultimately he was given out bowled.
Virdi’s second scalp came when Ben Brown tried to give himself room but only thinly edged to opposing wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick.
But Gubbins found a new ally in Dawson, who hit a quartet of early boundaries to go past 10,000 first-class runs on his 202nd appearance.
Dawson was dropped when he was on 62 before Gubbins reached his century in 198 deliveries.
The all-rounder then skipped through the 90s with a pulled six and cover-driven four to also reach three figures – for the 17th time in his career.
Hampshire are mathematically still in the title race, having started this round of Division One matches 27 points adrift of Surrey, while Worcestershire are all but clear of danger after three staright wins followed by last week’s derby draw with Warwickshire.
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