It was fitting that Hampshire Hawks stuck with their funereal all-black strip for the Twenty20 Cup.

The sun might have been shining at Uxbridge CC but Hampshire's latest performance, their worst of the season in all cricket according to skipper John Crawley, was depressingly familiar.

Hampshire's Twenty20 hopes were all but dead before last night's meek showing but the eight-wicket thrashing by Middlesex confirmed that Paul Terry will not be taking his side to Trent Bridge for next month's finals day.

Losing with more than five overs to spare was the final nail in the coffin of what has been a miserable Twenty20 campaign for Hampshire.

It means that tonight's Rose Bowl clash against Surrey Lions is a dead rubber - but the worry is that the effect will be more long term.

Hampshire return to championship action on Friday when nothing less than a win will be required to keep their four-day season alive.

First team manager Terry will need all his motivational powers to lift his players after their abject showing against Middlesex, a defeat that showed how long six weeks can be in county cricket.

At The Rose Bowl earlier this season, Abdul Razzaq smashed three sixes in one over from Shaun Udal and Hampshire lost off the last ball.

Two months on and Hampshire do not have the consolation of a narrow defeat to help nurse their wounds.

They are preparing to play the best team in the country 24 hours after being walloped by a side that had only won one of their three games in the competition before last night.

Middlesex won the toss but Hampshire should have totalled far more than the 134-7 they managed at Uxbridge, where the wicket was good, the outfield fast and the boundaries short.

James Hamblin provided his side with the basis of what should have been a reasonable total, crashing 30 off just 21 balls, including four of Hampshire's 12 fours.

Hamblin looked in fine form, thumping two of his boundaries through extra cover, but Hampshire never fully recovered after he and Derek Kenway departed in successive overs.

Kenway mistimed a pull to deep mid-wicket after contributing nine to a first-wicket stand of 35 in five overs and Hamblin was bowled after stepping across to off in an attempt to work Ashely Noffke through mid-wicket.

Crawley played on in Noffke's next over and Simon Katich's exit in the first of Simon Cook's four miserly overs completed the collapse. Katich struggled for any timing before scooping up the ball to mid-wicket, leaving Hawks 48-4 in the ninth over.

Lawrence Prittipaul and Dimitri Mascarenhas threatened to provide a worthwhile fifth-wicket stand before the former was trapped lbw by Cook for a run-a-ball 15.

Then, just when Hampshire needed him most, Wasim Akram was bowled for a second-ball duck in the same over.

At least Nic Pothas provided some grit. You have to wonder why the Greek passport holder, Hampshire's form batsman in all cricket this season, has not been batting higher in the Twenty20. He helped restore some respectability with a 20-ball 22, putting on 52 in seven overs with Mascarenhas, whose 31-ball 39 ended when Chad Keegan held on to a sensational catch at long-off in the last over.

Mascarenhas and Pothas have not been as dynamic in the Twenty20 as was expected. Mascarenhas has struggled for runs while Pothas has not had the chances - but, if it was not for them, Hampshire would have been humiliated by an even greater margin last night.

Mascarenhas, pictured below, showed stunning improvisation in upper-cutting a Noffke bouncer over third man for Hampshire's only six before holing out to Keegan, who enjoyed even greater success with the bat.

"I usually go in at number 11 so I love this competition," he said, before smashing 31 from 17 balls at number three.

Keegan provided the fireworks, but the left-handed opening pair of Strauss and Paul Weekes set the tone, putting on 72 for the first wicket before Strauss was caught on the extra-cover boundary in the ninth over.

Strauss's 36 came from 23 balls and Weekes faced 44 for his 56 before he was bowled by James Hamblin in what transpired to be Middlesex's penultimate over.

But Hampshire did not help themselves. Wasim bowled three wides in his first two overs (Middlesex did not bowl one) and, when Weekes smashed successive boundaries followed by a straight six in Wasim's final over, there could only be one winner.

Weekes reached his fifty soon after, reverse-sweeping Shaun Udal's first ball for four, and Keegan smashed the off-spinner for a six over long-on after being dropped in the deep by Hamblin off the previous ball.

Keegan struck successive boundaries from Prittpaul's first three legitimate balls (the first was a wide) but it was Owais Shah, a National League centenarian at Trent Bridge 24 hours earlier, who hit the winning runs.

l Will Kendall was replaced by Lawrie Prittipaul yesterday and Terry is expected to name an unchanged side for tonight's match against Surrey.

Terry said: "It was a difficult decision. I've got a lot of time for Will, but he hasn't been scoring enough runs in one-day cricket. I wouldn't envisage too many changes for the Surrey game."