The signing of Dane Vilas was not greeted with general rejoicing in Lancashire. "What do we need another ruddy wicketkeeper for?" was probably nearer the mark, with the player's South African origins also featuring in the opprobrium. Disapproval in a comparable vein also welcomed the recruitment of Ryan McLaren and Shivnarine Chanderpaul and it was expressed with predictable feeling.

So one rather wonders what the critics thought as Vilas and McLaren shared a record-breaking sixth-wicket stand of 221 on the third day of this game; or as Vilas' career-best 244 helped Lancashire build a first-innings lead of 198, the sort of advantage which should enable Steven Croft's bowlers to complete what would be a remarkable victory as early as the final morning of this match.

One of Vilas's most significant achievements was that his 434-minute flogging of Hampshire's knackered bowlers and fielders also sapped the mental strength of the visitors' established batsmen, some of whom were already out of form in any case. James Anderson tends to fall on such weakness with the compassion of a ravenous wolf and the evening's cricket proved that he had lost none of his effectiveness in steamy conditions against demoralised opponents who were searching for the ball rather than seeing it plain.

Anderson began Lancashire's evening fun by dismissing both Jimmy Adams and Rilee Rossouw for nought with successive deliveries in the third over of Hampshire's second dig. Adams poked tentatively forward like a blindfolded man in a minefield and was leg before; Rossouw, whose 34 runs in seven innings has now included four noughts, fished sadly outside off stump and was caught at third slip by Croft. Four overs later Michael Carberry played no shot at Kyle Jarvis and had his off stump knocked back.

Anderson's best wicket was that of George Bailey, who was lbw for 10 to a ball which swung back into him. If Trevor Bayliss needed reassurance that England's leading wicket-taker could still cut it, figures of 8-4-5-3 may do that job very nicely. And if Hampshire's batsmen thought their despond was done with when Anderson was removed from the attack, they were rudely disabused of that notion as James Vince drove McLaren straight to Rob Jones at short extra-cover. It will now be a fair effort should Hampshire's batsmen extend this game beyond lunch on Thursday.

And yet when Anderson's bowling has been duly praised, this was still Vilas's day, one on which his commitment to the Red Rose was made abundantly clear during a 275-ball innings. No one could have played with more devotion to his team's cause than Vilas, as storms and predictions of storms filled the weather charts and forecasts. Having been dropped off the second and third balls he faced this morning when Sean Ervine at slip and Carberry at mid-off grassed perfectly catchable opportunities he set himself to bat as long as he could. His 25 fours and quartet of sixes were only two measures by which his triumph could be gauged.

Vilas' stand with McLaren, who reached his first century for Lancashire with three successive boundaries off Kyle Abbott, set a new sixth-wicket record for the county against Hampshire. The pair added 129 runs in the morning session and they all but broke any vestige of resistance from Hampshire in the process. This was to be a desperate day for Bailey and his players.

Still Vilas was not finished and a glance at his statistics would have made ominous reading for the Hampshire attack as they were broken on the wheel. Almost all batsmen talk about "going on" once they have reached three figures, yet few make the word flesh with quite Vilas' ruthlessness. He has now made 13 centuries, in seven of which he had scored over 150 runs. Only twice has Vilas been dismissed between 100 and 150. These statistics indicate an approach to cricket and a level of fitness which young players like Alex Davies or Jones can learn.

Vilas' destruction of the Hampshire attack in the afternoon and evening session - the way he defended the good balls but also whacked three sixes of one Brad Taylor over - is evidence of a formidable talent, one whose influence may be felt over the coming months in the Old Trafford dressing room. By scoring the runs, he also helped Anderson take the wickets.

Where does it leave the overseas players' debate? Well some folk of firm principle will not have changed their views. Nowhere, apart from Yorkshire, perhaps, is the development of local talent more highly prized than in Lancashire. Those of such a persuasion might suggest that the ideal Lancashire cricketer was born on the banks of the Ribble, has been raised on hotpot and is capable of quoting Jack Iddon's ten highest innings at the drop of a clog.

Far more seriously, they would argue that organisations like the excellent Lancashire Cricket Board exist to develop home-grown talent and what is the use of not giving opportunities to the fine players produced by Lancashire age-group teams? The engagement of overseas players who arrive one week and clear off a fortnight later empowers that question. Yet Glen Chapple might respond that the development of the seven and often eight north-west based players in each of his teams is only assisted by the presence of players like Vilas, McLaren and Chanderpaul, all of whom are with Lancashire for the entire season. And perhaps we should let one of that trio explain his approach to the business of batting

"When you get to a hundred, you want to go on and get a big hundred, that's what the team needs," Vilas said. "I know how frustrating it is to get a hundred and then get out, and we have said in the changing room that when it's your day you need to dig deep and go as big as you can for the team.

"All the hard work you put in, the sweat, the tears - when you bat like that, it's what you work for, it's a brilliant feeling. I've seen guys get hundreds and lose concentration and that makes it difficult for the next guy coming in. I don't want to be the guy who puts pressure on the next man coming in."

Who would not want a cricketer like that in their team?