WHEN Hampshire last played Nottinghamshire in early June, they lost by an innings and 44 runs in just two days.

But their latest championship match against the second division leaders, which finishes today, would have to be timeless for it to finish as anything other than a draw.

At stumps yesterday, 1,175 runs had been scored for the loss of just ten wickets in three days of cricket at Trent Bridge.

For Nottinghamshire, who knew that defeat against Hampshire would leave the race for the division two title wide open, the groundsman must be in contention for man of the match.

Yesterday only three wickets fell for 405 runs as the home side marched inexorably past the 492 needed to avoid the follow on.

It left a performance out of the ordinary needed for either side to win today.

The featherbed of a wicket on which this match is being played suits batsmen as much as the track used for the reverse fixture at the Rose Bowl in June assisted the bowlers.

Even Shane Warne, a master at finding turn in the most docile of wickets, looked innocuous despite the increasingly pronounced footmarks created outside the leg stumps at both ends by Billy Taylor and Dimitri Mascarenhas.

Ironically, it was David Hussey, a teammate of Warne's at Victoria, who proved to be the biggest obstacle to Hampshire's hopes of victory.

Hussey's 170 was the highest of his four centuries for Notts, and the eighth he has scored in the last year, which began with a sensational season for his state in the Pura Cup.

It came from 236 balls and included four sixes, two of which came in succession off Shaun Udal - a straight hit followed by a lofted drive over long on - as he brought up his hundred.

Hussey looked unbeatable and the decision to hand John Crawley the ball for four overs in the afternoon session was the clearest evidence that Warne was running out of ideas on the most benign of wickets.

Crawley's off spin is so rare that it is not even mentioned in the Cricketers' Who Who.

But the first two days went so well for Hampshire's triple centurion that a second first class wicket of Crawley's career would not have been a total surprise, despite the long hops that littered his four overs.

Hussey put on 137 for the fourth wicket with Darren Bicknell before the latter became the first of the three wickets to fall on day three, caught by Nic Pothas after top edging an attempted pull five overs before lunch.

Bicknell was unbeaten on 55 when play began, with Notts still needing plenty to do at 129 for 3.

The left-handed opener was finally out for 103, which came from 188 balls and included 17 boundaries.

What followed was an even bigger partnership for the fifth wicket between Hussey and Chris Read, who made 75 out of the 178-run stand before he became the first of Billy Taylor's two victims.

Read had been lucky to escape a strong shout for leg before to the last ball before lunch, when the reserve England wicketkeeper missed an attempted pull against Dimitri Mascarenhas.

But he was given the benefit of the doubt and went on to add another 59 runs in the second session before playing a loose drive outside off stump during Hampshire's fourth over with the new ball.

Hussey missed out when in sight of a double hundred when Taylor clipped the bail on the right-hander's leg stump with the fourth ball after tea.

Taylor became only the second seamer in the match to take two wickets when he beat Hussey with a ball that nipped back off the seam.

Earlier, Warne had dropped a half chance at first slip, a left-handed, diving effort off Taylor.

Fortunately for him, Hussey added only six more runs before he was out for an innings of 170 that came from 236 balls, and included 20 fours and four sixes.

At the close, Notts were 534 for 6, just 107 behind Hampshire's massive first innings 641 for 4 declared.