JAMES Vince reckons the Ageas Bowl provides the perfect setting for him to realise his international ambitions after the Wiltshire ace signed a new contract with Hampshire earlier this week.

Vince, 22, a batting all rounder who grew up in Steeple Ashton, was due to reach the end of his previous deal at the end of the summer.

But he agreed a three-year extension that will keep him at the club where he came through the youth ranks until the end of the 2016 season.

Vince, who played youth cricket for Chippenham, is Hampshire’s second-highest county championship run-scorer so far this season and thinks that the future is bright on the south coast.

“We’d been talking about a new contract for the last few weeks, so it’s nice to finally have it sorted so that I can concentrate on my cricket for the rest of the season,” said Vince, who was a pupil at Warminster School.

“I’ve joined Hampshire academy when I was 14 and I made my first-team debut when I was 17 or 18.

“If I didn’t think that it was the best place to be, then I wouldn’t have signed.

“I worked on a few little things for the four-day competition in the winter and things have improved a little bit for me, which has been nice. I don’t think that I’ve done as well in the one-day competitions but I’ve still contributed to a few wins.

“My goal is still to push on and get into the England team at some point – people I’ve played with who have got in there before say that it comes right out of the blue.

“We’re a team who’ve been winning trophies recently and hopefully that means that the selectors will notice what we’re doing.”

Vince was part of the Hampshire side that won the Friends Provident T20 title in 2010, as well the Friends LifeT20 in 2012 and Clydesdale Bank 40 last season.

The Wiltshire ace has also featured for the England U19s and was selected for the England Performance Programme and Lions squads in the winters of 2011 and 2012.

Hampshire manager Giles White said: “It’s great that James has committed to the club for the next few years.

“He has moved forward this season with the bat and has also shown good potential with the ball.

“He is maturing into an influential player in all forms of the game and, if he continues to develop, the next phase of his career should be an exciting one.”

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