JOHN CRAWLEY has confessed that failure to beat Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge will tarnish the highest score of his career.

Crawley's epic 301 not out was the cornerstone of Hampshire's 641 for 4 declared and the third highest score for the county by any batsman.

But the top-of-the-table championship match at Trent Bridge was set to finish as a draw today as Notts were 534 for 6 at stumps last night on a wicket weighed heavily in favour of the batsmen.

Crawley, 32, said: "It's certainly nice to get a few runs but we'd obviously like to make it a bit more worthwhile by winning the game, which looks unlikely now.

"That'll take the edge off it - you have to get the runs to set up a win but to get the score is only part of the battle."

Crawley's triple century was the 43rd three-figure score of his career in first class cricket, and surpassed his debut 272 as the highest score by a Hampshire batsman since the war.

Another 16 runs would have given him the highest all-time individual score by a Hampshire batsman, which still stands as the 316 made by the late Dick Moore at Bournemouth in 1937.

But Crawley was more focused on a win for Hampshire than more individual records when Shane Warne declared on Saturday afternoon.

"I didn't even know about the record, and we were coming out at 3.35pm come what may anyway," he remarked.

"We knew exactly how long we had to bat, we just wanted to get as many runs as we could so if I had been on 299 we would have been coming off anyway."

Although he scored a Test hundred for England in the summer of 2002, Crawley's ton against Notts was also the first time he had reached three figures for Hampshire in a first class match since his first game for the county, against Kent at Canterbury in April 2002.

He said: "It's been a long time since the last one, I've been stuck on 42 (hundreds) for a long time. I've got a number of scores between 70 and 90 and just got out."

Most recently, Crawley was out for 97 against Essex at Chelmsford last month. "Sometimes it happens like that but hopefully this is the turnaround point," he said.

Crawley's 301 not out surpassed the 286 he made for England A against Eastern Province a decade ago as the highest first class score of his career.

It was also his sixth first class score of 250 or more, one of which was made for Lancashire on the same ground.

"Trent Bridge is a nice place to bat," he continued.

"Normally there's a little more life in the pitch than this one has but at the end of the day all you can do is perform as well as you can on each surface that you get.

"This wicket is frustrating for everyone, there needs to be a bit more turn or pace in it, of which there's neither.

"From a batting point of view, it's a little bit better to have wickets with pace so you can play shots off the back foot as well as the front foot.

"But there's not much in it for the bowlers at all. It's tough and to get a win would be a very, very good effort."

Next up for Hampshire are two vital games at Glamorgan in the totesport National League on Wednesday and the county championship starting the following day.

"Hopefully we can go from here and get another couple of victories at Cardiff," said Crawley, who was recalled by England the last time he scored a big hundred for Hampshire.

"I haven't given up total hope," he added with regards to another international return.

Crawley reached his 300 with his second six, over mid-wicket against David Hussey's off spin.

He faced 442 balls and struck 35 fours and is now the only batsman who figures twice in the top 10 highest individual innings by a Hampshire batsman.

His effort overshadowed that of Michael Clarke, whose 140 was not only his maiden century for Hampshire but also his career best first class score as well.