TOM Prest’s excellent 105 was backed up by a ruthless bowling performance as Hampshire’s young guns took a giant step towards knockout qualification in the Metro Bank One-Day with a landslide 177-run victory over Yorkshire at York yesterday.

Ex-England Under 19s captain Prest batted for the lion’s share of Hampshire’s 311-6, coming in at 24-1 and leading the recovery from 108-4 in the 26th over, after Ben Coad had bowled a brilliant 10-over new ball spell straight through for only 21 runs.

Yorkshire’s reply then slipped embarrassingly to 36-7, before a level of respectability was achieved at 134 all out inside 32 overs.

This was the same Clifton Park pitch used for Yorkshire's thrilling one-wicket win over Surrey on Tuesday, but 48 hours later, they were well off the pace.

Dom Kelly and fellow 17-year-old pace bowler Eddie Jack impressed with two and three wickets respectively for Hampshire, while Ian Holland’s seam accounted for a miserly 3-12 from eight overs.

Hampshire’s fifth win has now moved them joint top of the table with 10 points from six games, and they are on course for knockout cricket with two left to play.

Yorkshire, meanwhile, lost for the second time in six games (with two no results too) and have slipped out of the all-important top three. They will need to win both of their final two games to have a chance of qualifying.

The first of those comes away to Leicestershire on Sunday, before they round off the group stage with a trip to Middlesex next Tuesday.