A week is a long time in cricket. Just six days after beating Gloucestershire in the National League, Hampshire returned to Bristol with a side strengthened by the presence of the fit again trio of John Crawley, Dimitri Mascarenhas and Chris Tremlett.

But it was the return of Gloucestershire's new ball pair of Shabbir Ahmed and Jon Lewis, who gained considerable movement through the air, that proved crucial as the home county won by three wickets with more than 12 overs to spare.

Pakistan pace ace Shabbir was back in the Gloucestershire side after a fortnight out with a hamstring injury, while Lewis had been rested for the National League match.

Between them, they ensured that Hampshire managed nearly 100 runs less than they successfully chased the previous weekend.

If would have been worse had it not been for Tremlett and Mascarenhas. The England hopefuls set up a tense, Shane Warne-inspired finish with a 60-run partnership, a Hampshire record for the ninth wicket in the competition, that also happened to take the county beyond their lowest ever score in cricket's equivalent of the FA Cup (98 against Lancashire at Old Trafford in 1975).

Mascarenhas's 80-ball 52 was his first half century of the season in all cricket and contributed to a stand that surpassed the 57 runs shared by Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie and Derek Shackleton against Kent at Southampton 38 years ago.

But man of the match Lewis's 4-39, and Shabbir's opening spell of 5-2-6-1, meant that Hampshire faced what proved to be an insurmountable task - even by their captain's standards.

With the benefit of hindsight, Warne will surely regret not giving the likes of Alan Mullally and Mascarenhas first use of the seamer-friendly conditions, especially as Hampshire had played so well in chasing a bigger total against Gloucestershire a week earlier.

In that game Warne was behind all of Hampshire's five wickets, taking four of them and affecting a run out in a match that saw Hampshire's seamers go wicketless.

But this time play began more than two hours earlier and the damper conditions allowed Lewis and Shabbir to wreak havoc.

The wicket certainly favoured Warne later in the day, which he expected, hence his decision to bat. But sadly his 4-23 was just too little too late.

It was not the return to Bristol that Warne had hoped for. He began the weekend by having dinner with his Bristol Imperial CC teammates from his summer of club cricket in 1989. He has spent two weeks in the city every year since that memorable first summer in England as a 19-year-old.

But this was not one of his happier memories from the West Country and his frustration boiled over when he clashed with his opposite number Mark Alleyne as the Gloucestershire skipper took a run off his bowling.

"I'll give Mark the benefit of the doubt. I was walking back to my mark and suddenly felt a helmet in my arm. I'm sure he didn't mean it," Warne said afterwards.

Mullally had not helped Warne's mood when he dropped a steepling effort as he ran back from mid off at a critical point in the game.

Gloucestershire were 125-4 at the time and Shoaib Malik had made just ten before making the most of his extra life, shepherding the tail and then sweeping Warne to the boundary for the winning runs.

It was a humbling moment for Warne, but his first defeat as Hampshire captain had to come sometime. It was just a shame that it was in the county's biggest game of the season so far.

If he had a choice there is little doubt that Warne would have swapped the four National League points won at Bristol the previous Sunday for a quarter-final in two weeks' time.

Hampshire's dream of a Lord's final will just have to wait another year but this defeat was even more painful than last year's third-round exit at home to Sussex because Warne seemed destined to take his side all the way.

It might have been easier to take if it had been a fair dinkum thrashing as it looked likely to be when Craig Spearman smashed 22 runs off James Hamblin's second over, which cost 27 thanks to the addition of five wides and proved costly.

The decision to employ Hamblin as the first change bowler instead of Mullally was a strange one but five Gloucestershire wickets fell in 11 captivating overs shortly after Warne grabbed the ball at the start of the 22nd over.

Sadly, it was not quite enough.

There is not much time for the dust to settle on this defeat as Hampshire are in totesport National League action against Kent today.

And Warne is not one for what might have beens. This will just have strengthened his resolve and his determination to lead Hampshire to promotion to the county championship's first division - starting with Wednesday's top of the table championship match against Nottinghamshire at the Rose Bowl.