HAMPSHIRE'S batsmen must have breathed a sigh of relief when Glamorgan left Simon Jones out of their side yesterday morning.

But after a brilliant performance with the ball after tea, Hampshire lost three wickets of their own as Glamorgan justified the decision to leave the England paceman out of their attack.

Jones was available to play only his third championship game of the season and his first since May after being omitted from England's Test side.

But Glamorgan's David Harrison did more than enough damage as Hampshire lost Michael Brown and nightwatchman Shaun Udal before Derek Kenway was out to the last ball of the day from Alex Wharf.

An outstanding bowling performance post-tea, with Shane Warne at his best, had helped Hampshire dismiss Glamorgan for 301.

But the Welsh county, who had won the toss, were in the driving seat when Kenway was given out to a low full toss that seemed to be drifting wide of leg stump.

Udal had edged Harrison to first slip as he attempted to shoulder arms but the felling of three Hampshire wickets for five runs began when Brown had been beaten by an off cutter from the Glamorgan seamer.

It left Hampshire 11 for 3, still 290 behind Glamorgan's first innings in what is a crucial county championship second division promotion battle.

That was a world away from last weekend when Hampshire rattled up 641-4 declared at Trent Bridge!

Hampshire, as they did at Nottingham, will need big runs from John Crawley and Michael Clarke to give themselves a realistic chance of victory.

Glamorgan's score had looked a below-par total during a stand of 89 for the second wicket between Matthew Elliott and David Hemp on the same wicket that was used for the totesport National League match less than 24 hours earlier.

Elliott was dropped at the wicket by Nic Pothas off Dimitri Mascarenhas when he had made 28 of his 54 runs but otherwise he and Hemp looked untroubled after Mark Wallace had nicked Alan Mullally to Clarke at third slip.

The two left-handers both reached their fifties in successive overs after lunch, beginning with the tenth of Hemp's 14 fours.

Elliott miscued a pull to mid-wicket soon after a single off his Victoria teammate Warne had given him a championship fifty to add to the unbeaten 81 he scored in Glamorgan's totesport League win.

James Bruce took the other wicket to fall in the afternoon session when Clarke took a sharp chance low to his left at second slip to remove dangerman Matthew Maynard.

Michael Powell and Jonathan Hughes took Glamorgan to 255 for 4 at tea but Hampshire dominated the final session, taking the last six wickets for 45 runs, beginning with a brute of a ball from Bruce.

Glamorgan had added just one run after tea when a lifting delivery forced Hughes to fend the ball to Pothas for Bruce's second wicket

Then Warne worked his magic with a final spell of 3 for 20 from eight overs which included bowling Robert Croft round his legs as the last five Glamorgan wickets fell for just 14 runs in nine overs.

Wharf faced 13 balls for his duck before he went back to a flipper and was given lbw, despite a hint of inside edge.

Mike Kasprowicz suffered a similar fate after prodding forward to his Australian Test teammate.

And when Udal took the wicket of Harrison, Hampshire - who went into the match just half a point behind second-placed Glamorgan in the second division - had every reason to be pleased with their day in the field.

But three more wickets were still to fall, making a total of nine in the evening session.