IT was gone 6pm when the moment finally arrived that most of the Edgbaston crowd had waited for.

It promised to be somewhat anti-climatic, as by the time captain Shane Warne had bowled his first delivery for Hampshire in one-day cricket since that one-year ban, the match looked finished as a contest.

A fine all-round performance by his teammates had reduced Warwickshire to 94-5 from 28 overs in reply to a total of 215-6.

But Graham Wagg had other ideas, smashing the Aussie legend for three consecutive sixes as Warwickshire briefly threatened an unlikely comeback.

As it was, Warne will no doubt be satisfied to have played the unfamiliar role of second-fiddle in the eventual 26-run win.

That said, his impact on a team that has now opened the season with successive Championship and National League victories, can be safely assumed.

Put into bat, Hampshire's innings was characterised by a large sprinkling of magic dust from Michael Clarke and then a hefty dose of gun powder from Shaun Udal.

Precociously talented, 23-year-old Clarke came to the crease with the Hawks struggling at 22-2 after Warwick-shire's South African-born opening bowlers Dewald Pretorius and Neil Carter had enjoyed plenty of early swing.

Derek Kenway was caught behind for a duck off only the ninth ball of the innings and then a frustrated Nic Pothas holed out to Ian Bell at mid-off after managing just two runs from 24 deliveries amid plenty of playing and missing.

But where the Hampshire wicket-keeper was mostly hitting wind, Clarke began using his willow to wonderful effect.

Making his one-day debut for Hampshire, the Australian limited-overs star began with a few delicate flicks off his legs before opening up with a dazzling array of strokes to dispatch the bowling all over the ground.

He played a cracking drive to reach his 50 off 65 balls and then thumped Douglas Brown to the ropes again off the very next ball.

But he rode his luck to survive a stumping chance off the left-arm spin of fellow Aussie Brad Hogg when on 63 and was soon caught just inside the boundary rope by Trevor Penney for 68.

Lawrence Prittipaul (26) and Will Kendall (30) offered useful support but the Hawks began to slow as they moved to 157 off 40 overs before Dimitri Marcarenhas and later Udal came to the crease.

Marcarenhas cut loose in the 42nd over, smashing Pretorius for a four and then a huge six on his way to an unbeaten 33.

But that proved to be only a minor gust before the Udal storm. The Hampshire off-spinner arrived with barely two overs of the innings left and promptly thumped an amazing 30 off nine balls, including five fours and a six, as well as a run of five consecutive boundaries.

In the field, the difficulty of batting on what was a fairly green wicket was well exposed by Hampshire's quartet of seamers.

Mascarenhas removed War-wickshire captain Nick Knight and then Bell in his opening spell - the latter to a sharp catch at short mid-wicket from a still buzzing Udal.

Mark Wagh and Jonathan Trott steadied the ship somewhat, but the home county were slipping behind the required run-rate when both were dismissed in quick succession by the excellent Chris Tremlett with the score now on 66-4 in the 22nd over.

Hampshire remained in control until Hogg and Wagg looked dangerous with their quick-fire scores of 35, before Alan Mullally eventually wrapped up the Warwickshire innings.