HAMPSHIRE cricket chairman Rod Bransgrove has spoken of his ten-year vision for the county.

A hugely satisfactory summer has seen Hampshire establish their place in the top division of both the County Championship and National League. And Bransgrove, right, believes that the next step is to be consistently challenging the very best.

"It has been fantastic," he said. "If someone had offered us what we have achieved at the start of the season I would have bitten their hand off.

"Our objectives were to consolidate in the Totesport National League and gain promotion in the Championship and we have done both of those things.

"We feel we have got a good blend and a lot of good young players coming through as well. There is a lot of talent, we want to get the right mix and try to create a side for a decade.

"The planning process can be different for people in different positions, but I have to look at the long-term viability over the next five to ten years."

Bransgrove is delighted with Hampshire's progress over the past few years and will soon be sitting down with captain Shane Warne and manager Paul Terry to map out the way forward.

"The squad has changed and it will continue to change, but I think we are close now and, if anything, we are a little ahead of where I expected to be," he said.

"When I first came in the objective was to save the club from insolvency. The next step was to make the business viable and then we wanted to build a team capable of competing with the very best.

"We gave ourselves three to five years to achieve that and in the third year we have found that we are ready to compete with the very best.

"But we will look at the squad again. There are one or two areas that we would like to strengthen. There are players who will be out of contract and become available in October."

Of the successes this season, Bransgrove is keen to stress that it has been a real team effort. "Shane Warne takes a lot of credit but everyone has played their part," he said.

"Promotion was the major priority.

"At the start of the season we would have accepted finishing fifth and third in the two competitions to be in the top divisions.

"But we have gone out and won eight Championship matches plus seven in the Totesport National League. To win 15 matches is an amazing performance."

Although nothing has yet been decided, Bransgrove is naturally keen to retain the services of talismanic skipper Warne for at least part of next season.

The legendary Aussie leg-spinner has retired from one-day cricket and so will only be involved in the Ashes Test series next summer which doesn't start until the end of July. "We are still looking at it, but he wants to be here and we want him to be here," said Bransgrove.

Hampshire's Rose Bowl will stage five matches in the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy, beginning on Saturday with the match between India and Kenya.

That will be followed by Australia v USA

(Sept 13), West Indies v Bangladesh (Sept 15), England v Sri Lanka (Sept 17) and the second semi-final (Sept 22).

ICC tickets are available by telephoning 0876 2430291.