Northamptonshire seamer Ben Phillips took his second List A four-wicket-haul, removing Kevin Pietersen, John Crawley, Warne and Chris Tremlett on his way to four for 48.

Middlesex' reply would have been a sorry one but for a big partnership between Owais Shah (83) and Irish left-hander Ed Joyce (70), who continued his great form in the Championship, passing 400 runs in his third match of the season.

With Hampshire losing two quick wickets to be 28 for 2 at the close, the match hung in the balance, with nightwatchman Billy Taylor on 0 and Australian batsman Simon Katich on 1.

Chris Tremlett bowled well in the attempt, removing David Hemp, Mike Powell and Jonathan Hughes among others to take four for 42 and reduce Glamorgan to 229 – a score that would have been much lower but for Darren Thomas, who blitzed his way to 63.

However, a magnificent spell from Zimbabwean all-rounder Heath Streak, who took four wickets for 11 from nine overs, including five maidens, reduced Hampshire to 34 for 5 before Michael Brown and Sean Ervine rebuilt.

Six wides from Chris Tremlett, who conceded 51 runs off his eight overs then cost Hampshire the game after Shaun Udal had taken three wickets to set Northamptonshire Steelbacks back to 135 for 5.

Nottinghamshire were set 276 to win, and a century from Stephen Fleming saw the hosts to 227 for 3, but after that they collapsed, losing their last five wickets for three runs, with Chris Tremlett taking 5 for 80, including a hat-trick as Hampshire edged the victory.

A healthy opening partnership between Scott Newman and Richard Clinton worth 100 was to be the highest of the entire match, and despite Chris Tremlett taking wickets regularly, he also conceded a lot of runs, as he ended with four for 106 off twenty overs.

The first two days at The Rose Bowl were hampered by rain, but amid the showers, Indian bowler Harbhajan Singh took six for 36 as Hampshire crumbled in a rather unimpressive heap for 146.

For Hampshire Hawks, Shane Warne showed somewhat poor captaincy when Zimbabwean all-rounder Sean Ervine was the eighth man to come on to bowl – and then took two for 13 from two overs.

Despite Nic Pothas scoring 59 off 39 balls, the Hawks were nowhere near keeping up with the required pace, and Middlesex bowler Irfan Pathan was a main cause of that – he took three for 16 from four overs, as Hampshire finished on 192 for 7.

Hampshire's reply was very well timed, and even a good bowling spell from Kent's James Tredwell – who only conceded sixteen runs off the bat in four overs – could not stop the Hawks.

Two quick wickets from Sean Ervine slowed the Sharks' progression, as they slumped to 88 for 5, but Michael Yardy hit 10 in four balls in an unbeaten 11-run sixth-wicket stand with Carl Hopkinson.

However, Fleming and Mark Ealham put the chase back on with a partnership of 75, before Hampshire struck again with wickets in successive overs, and then Shaun Udal had Greg Smith lbw for 6.

Hampshire slumped to 309 on the morning of day two, and solid contributions from the entire batting order – bar number three Michael Yardy who made a duck – lifted Sussex to a slender seven-run lead amid Ervine's swing bowling, which yielded five wickets for 73.

Five days later, the team beat Yorkshire to qualify for the C&G Trophy Final, and the one-day success continued with a four-wicket National League defeat of Worcestershire.

Hampshire finished their innings on 385 all out, after Pothas had made 139 and Bichel 138, and Gloucestershire struggled initially with the bat, losing their first two wickets for 25 runs (admittedly with Kirby filling the role of nightwatchman).

Hampshire then collapsed again, falling to 23 for 3 (including the wicket of nightwatchman Chris Tremlett) before John Crawley and Shane Watson rescued them with a 120-run partnership, as spinners Bandara and Ian Fisher toiled away to little effect.

However, Shane Watson got a vital breakthrough with the wicket of Gidman, Shaun Udal unleashed a spell of furious off-spin on the tail, taking six for 61, and Gloucestershire were bowled out with an hour to spare.

Hardinges was the main culprit as Hampshire lost their last nine wickets for exactly 100 runs to post a total of 178, despite Nic Pothas, Sean Ervine and Shane Watson all making at least 40.

In reply, William Weston and Matt Windows paired up for 106 runs for the second wicket, and not even Chris Tremlett, who took three for 34, could stop Gloucestershire from reaching the target with more than ten overs to spare.

Their one-day form didn't carry into the League, however, as they lost by two wickets to Middlesex, moving closer to relegation, and that trend continued with a 151-run defeat to Glamorgan.

Shane Watson effectively stopped that, having Dougie Brown and Ashley Giles out bowled, leaving Warwickshire to hit about 20 runs in the last over.

They were put in to bat, and lost wicket-keeper Nic Pothas for 5 early on, but John Crawley and Sean Ervine fought back with a 101-run partnership for the second wicket.

When the match got underway, the entire Hampshire batting order made contributions, and an innings including half-centuries from James Adams, Jono McLean, Simon Katich and Dimitri Mascarenhas, saw them to a total of 350.

Boosted by 75 extras – 38 coming in no-balls, of which 18 were conceded by Mark Footitt alone – Hampshire ended their innings voluntarily on 714 for 5 – a team record – having hit 290 runs for one wicket in 42.3 second-day overs.

Captain Shane Warne declared when Mascarenhas got his century, only to later discover that Crawley – who had gone from 200 to 300 with 58 balls – had been denied of the Hampshire highest innings score by five runs, despite a career-best 311 not out [2].

Nottinghamshire needed 269 to avoid suffering the highest defeat of the Championship season, and amid the rain breaks at the Rose Bowl, they passed that score with one wicket in hand, thanks to 97 from Darren Bicknell and a 49-ball cameo from Chris Read which yielded 63 runs.

The visiting Nottinghamshire Outlaws batted first, and after a slow start where Anurag Singh and Stephen Fleming had accumulated forties to see them to 101 for 3, Hussey hit loose.

When they came back to bat, Hampshire were set 165 to win – and duly lost six wickets for 58 runs, Gareth Clough having two men bowled and captain Shane Warne lbw.