Any hopes Hampshire Hawks had of gaining promotion to Division I of the Norwich Union League were thrown into disarray as they suffered a fifth successive defeat away to Northamptonshire Steelbacks, to languish well away from the top three.

Being put into bat on the slow wicket and overcast conditions, Hampshire lost three early wickets to the seam of Darren Cousins, including that of Mascarenhas who suffered a first-ball dismissal for the second day running.

The conditions were not ideal for fluent strokeplay and the sides came off for 20 minutes after a heavy shower, which meant that again Duckworth/Lewis would have a say in the matter.

Three overs were sliced from the innings as John Crawley and John Francis shared 40 runs together before Crawley, playing his last match before joining the England team in Nottingham, stretched forward to the off-spinner Jason Brown and was well stumped.

Nic Pothas, as he had done the previous day held the innings together but only Will Kendall offered him any support with 14 as the innings fell apart.

The Steelbacks started well despite a few scares with Alan Mullally being particularly difficult on the track. But they had survived to 20 without loss after eight overs before more rain descended on the County Ground.

Five overs were lost, leaving the home side to score a reduced 122 to win. But they had reached 52-0 halfway through the 15th over before the heavens opened once more and there was no further chance of play.

It was not too difficult to surmise that the Steelbacks had won on a Duckworth/Lewis countback, although the 16 run D/L result flattered Hampshire.

© Hampshire Cricket