Wasim Akram blasted umpire Mervyn Kitchen after Hampshire's Twenty20 hopes went up in smoke at the Rose Bowl last night.

Wasim, captain in the absence of the injured John Crawley, smashed 20 runs off 11 balls in a thrilling finale against Essex Eagles.

The visitors seemed to be heading for defeat when Hampshire needed six runs from the last four balls.

One-day legend Wasim was on strike and, with Hampshire having lost fewer wickets, six runs would have tied the scores and given them two valuable South Division points.

But, with the light fading, Jon Dakin bowled a full toss, which appeared to be above waist height to most in the 3,500 crowd.

Kitchen, though, failed to signal no ball - and Hampshire lost by four runs.

Wasim said: "It was a genuine mistake by the umpire but it lost us the game. What can you do? I told him that the ball was nearer my shoulder than my waist, but he said he didn't think it was.

"If he had signalled no ball we would have needed four runs from four balls instead of six from three. It was a big decision."

Top scorer Simon Katich was at the non striker's end when Dakin hurled down the full toss with the third ball of the final over. He said: "We felt was a no ball, it cost us, but that's the nature of the game."

Hampshire's failure to tie with Essex's 155-6, despite winning the toss and losing just three wickets, means they have to beat Middlesex and favourites Surrey convincingly to stand a chance of qualifying for the Twenty20 Cup finals as best runners up.

Wasim, who captained Hampshire for the first time after Crawley strained a buttock muscle in the warm up, added: "This was a crucial game but we have to start learning how to win.

"We're not here to play for a job, we're here to win and when we are chasing we can't let the run rate get up to 12 an over in the last three overs, like it was.

"We needed six off four balls at the end but we made it difficult for ourselves.

"We should have made sure that the run rate was eight or nine an over off the last three overs."

Hampshire return to Twenty20 action against Middlesex at Uxbridge on Monday before hosting Surrey 24 hours later.

Fourth placed Hampshire are level on points with Kent and Essex, the two favourites for the runners up spot, whose floodlit clash at Chelmsford tonight is likely to decide who finishes second behind Surrey.