Hampshire Hawks suffered their ninth Norwich Union League Division Two defeat of the season, going down under the lights against Sussex Sharks at Hove. The match finishing some 90 minutes early.

Unusually the Sharks chose to field when winning the toss, against the norm for a floodlit match.

Losing pinch hitter James Hamblin in the first over, the visiting side were indepted to a sound half-century partnership by Neil Johnson and Jason Laney to put them on the road, but this early promise soon evaporated as the batting declined.

Will Kendall following his century in the previous match struck 24, but he was hampered by losing his partners at regular intervals. His dismissal was the first of five wickets to fall for just 5 runs, to leave the Sharks an apparent simple task of scoring 127 for victory. Kevin Innes taking four wickets for no runs to sew up the task.

Dimitri Mascarenhas struck back dismissing Bas Zuiderent and James Carpenter both well caught behind the wicket by Iain Brunnschweiler.

He came back to dismiss Sussex captain Chris Adams for 30 giving him respectable bowling figures of 3-24, but not before they had put the game out of Hampshire's reach with a stand of 95. Zimbabwean Murray Goodwin however took control following his skippers dismissal, playing some outrageous shots to sent Hampshire home early.

Will House struck a hugh six off Adams to secure the victory, and make it the last action of his career, as he announced his immediate retirement to take up a financial consultancy.

© Hampshire Cricket