A one-day career best six for 42 from Shane Warne, which included a deadly spell of six for fourteen in 20 balls, ended any real prospect Surrey had of qualifying for this season's Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy final on 26 August. Instead, it set-up a comfortable eight-wicket victory for the Hampshire Hawks, who cruised home with nearly half their overs to spare; which keeps them in touch with the South Conference leaders, Sussex, who lost to Kent at Tunbridge Wells.

Warne won the toss and chose to field. Either he was unaware that six of the previous seven one-day contests at Whitgift had gone to the side batting first, or, more likely, the Aussie leg-spinner simply backed his own ability to reduce an under-strength Surrey line-up to something in the region of the 166 they went on to make.

Warne, whose previous limited-overs best for Hampshire was four to 23, took two wickets in his seventh over and three in his eighth. Prior to his re-introduction the home side been making steady progress thanks almost entirely to a fourth wicket partnership of 83 in nineteen overs between Mark Butcher and Jonathan Batty. But it all fell away shortly after Butcher's departure in the thirtieth over.

The Surrey captain punched the ball back to Shaun Udal's left, set off, but soon realised that Udal was going to effect the run out off his own bowling. He stopped running and so did Batty, but by that time it was Brown Caps' top scorer who was closest to the danger end.

After the early loss of Scott Newman, who was caught low down at first slip, Butcher found himself taking strike to the third ball of the innings. It was not long before Benning and Brown were also back in the pavilion. The 33-year-old left-hander responded by pulling Sean Ervine for six, and in Warne's first over, the 15th, he swept the leg spinner's second delivery for four and cut the next through the covers.

Five overs later Butcher reached his second half-century in the season's C&G Trophy, off 64 balls, when he glanced Ervine to the fine leg boundary. He also took two fours off Dimitri Mascarenhas's second over, but thereafter the visitors held sway.

Warne came back on for the 33rd over, in which both Batty and Clarke came down the pitch for driven fours. Unfortunately, Batty's sweetly timed blow landed one bounce and into the crowd at deep extra cover and hit the youngest of Alistair Brown's two sons, Joe who, gladly, soon got over the incident.

The Aussie leg-spinner's next over saw Batty being stumped and Clarke edging to slip. Surrey's eight, nine, ten and Jack were at sixes and sevens. Tim Murtagh also went to a catch at slip, Nayan Doshi pushed forward and was leg before and Mohammad Akram padded up to his second ball. Finally, two overs later, after receiving what appeared to be some sound advice on how to play world-class leg-spin from Stewart Walters, Jade Dernbach charged down the pitch and was stumped.

When play resumed Akram made good use of the new ball, but at the other end Clarke's two overs were as directionless as Whitgift School's peacock, which went for a brief stroll on the outfield. Murtagh succeeded Clarke at the Nottingham Road End and fared a little better, but, fatefully, it then fell to Doshi to see what he could do from the same end. Top of Surrey's championship bowling averages Doshi may be, but seven of the nine sixes hit in the Hampshire innings came off his slow left-arm twirlers.

Michael Carberry filled his boots and made a dominant 88 off 84 balls before falling to a surperb catch at mid-off, five overs after John Crawley, who deserved a fifty for his trouble, was snapped up low down at mid-wicket.

James Benning broke the little toe on his left foot while batting and did not take the field, although it is thought he will be fit to play in Surrey's forthcoming County Championship match against Leicestershire. Azhar Mahmood, whose all-round capabilities had been the difference against Glamorgan, did not feature due to a stiff back, but he too is expected to be sufficiently fit to line-up against the Foxes on Wednesday.

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