Craig Kieswetter kept Somerset in the hunt for the Pro40 Division One title and then had his batting compared to that of Kevin Pietersen by Marcus Trescothick.

The England prospect struck a mature 81 from 87 balls as Somerset eased to a six-wicket win over Hampshire at the Rose Bowl with seven overs to spare. Stand-in skipper Trescothick said: "I spoke with (Hampshire's former England coach) Duncan Fletcher and he was really impressed with how he played and reined himself in when we lost an early wicket.

"Batting-wise, he is fantastic. I see little things that I see in KP. The odd time he flicks it or picks it up over leg-side or the way he can smack it back out of the park. Not many of us can hit it like KP.

"Whether it is just a South African thing, I don't know. He just has a natural talent with fast hands and fast wrists. He also breaks a lot of bats, like KP does."

The Sabres made light of the absence of skipper Justin Langer to restrict Hampshire to 205-7 after the hosts won the toss.

Then a breakneck opening stand of 78 in 11 overs between Trescothick (44) and Kieswetter ensured victory was going to be a formality.

Somerset must still win their final two games – away to Worcestershire tonight (4.40) and at home to Durham a week on Sunday – to claim the silverware.

Sussex remain favourites, needing to beat Worcestershire in their final game to clinch the title.

After Kieswetter was hopelessly dropped by Chris Tremlett off Dimi Mascarenhas on two, Trescothick launched a fearsome assault, making light of a slow pitch by clobbering three sixes and five fours in a 31-ball 44 to dominate the initial stand with his wicketkeeper.

Trescothick tried to launch Hamza Riazuddin for a fourth maximum but skied a slower ball to extra cover, and after that the scoring slowed markedly as James Hildreth tried to play himself into form. But the extra pace of Tremlett forced him to play on for 12.

The introduction of left-arm spinner Danny Briggs sparked fresh life into Kieswetter, who reached his fifty with a lofted four – his sixth boundary – from 68 balls before depositing the next ball over deep midwicket for a huge six.

Zander de Bruyn made an untroubled 25 before being bowled by Sean Ervine and Kieswetter holed out to cover off Riazuddin.

Earlier, Somerset CCC had restricted Hampshire, largely thanks to season's-best Pro40 figures of 3-36 from Charl Willoughby, who removed the top three home batsmen.

Willoughby encouraged Jimmy Adams to hook to one-day debutant Jos Buttler at deep square leg for two.

He then trapped the dangerous Michael Lumb in front for 28 in his first over after Trescothick had switched him to the Northern End before removing Sean Ervine's off stump for 10.

Hampshire's England Under-19 star James Vince was threatening to wrest the initiative away from the visitors but he played down the wrong line to Ben Phillips and was bowled for 20, Liam Dawson made 34 before lifting de Bruyn to Pete Trego at long-on and Chris Benham was caught at cover off Phillips for 42.

After Nic Pothas was lbw to Alfonso Thomas reverse-sweeping, Hampshire needed two sixes from Mascarenhas (43 not out) off de Bruyn to lift them over 200, but it was never going to be enough.