Hampshire went out of the C&G Trophy at the first hurdle after suffering a second last-over defeat in three days at The Rose Bowl yesterday.

Sussex skipper Chris Adams led Hampshire's south coast rivals to a dramatic four-wicket win with three balls to spare on the same ground his side had lost to Hampshire in the National League on Sunday.

Man-of-the-match Adams made an unbeaten 80 from 85 balls but, with just two overs left, Hampshire were the clear favourites. Sussex needed 27 to win off the last 12 balls and Wasim Akram was bowling.

It was then that Adams struck his third six, back over Wasim's head into the pavilion end - the start of an over that was to cost 20 runs, all from the bat of the Sussex skipper.

Two boundaries, one through mid-wicket and the other through cover, were among the 14 runs he scored off Wasim's next five balls, leaving Sussex needing seven off the last over from Tremlett.

It was Tremlett who bowled the last over in Monday's defeat against Middlesex but this contest was never going to go to the final ball after the first was cut for four by Mark Davis.

Fittingly, it was Adams who cover drove the winning runs with three balls remaining. It was tough on Hampshire, but bowling ten wides proved crucial, as did the 20 bowled against Middlesex 48 hours earlier

Hampshire's bowling was disciplined enough to increase the required run rate to nine an over so that more than two a ball were needed with two overs left.

Sussex lost a steady flow of wickets and Dimitri Mascarenhas, whose medium pace was hard to get away on a slow track, took half of those to fall.

He was indebted to two catches from Will Kendall at backward point for Hampshire's first and last wickets, Richard Montgomerie and Matthew Prior, while Michael Yardy was beaten by one that kept low.

The recalled Alan Mullally claimed the scalps of Murray Goodwin, who nicked an attempted cut to Pothas, and Tim Ambrose, who pulled straight to mid wicket.

Goodwin and Ambrose put on 53 for the second wicket but, after the former was out chasing a wide one, Adams came to the crease.

Stands of 30 with Ambrose, 21 with Robin Martin Jenkins and 37 in seven overs with Yardy followed but it was the 53 he added in six overs with Mark Davis that won Sussex a fourth round tie against Middlesex

The game's defining moment was Adams' third six and his second off Wasim in the penultimate over but Davis contributed 21 quick runs of his own before his captain struck the winning boundary.

Hampshire's innings was marred by three run-outs but the consensus was that their 213 was par for this wicket.

After winning his third toss in as many games as Hampshire captain, John Crawley played on in the tenth over, having struggled for any fluency.

Mullally had come into the side for Derek Kenway, the only change from the team that lost to Middlesex on Monday, and Nic Pothas's good form was preferred to James Hamblin's pinch-hitting qualities at the top of the order.

Pothas's 40 from 83 balls anchored the innings. He put on 30 in ten overs with Robin Smith, who had got off the mark with successive cover drives for four off Michael Yardy.

Smith was caught behind after pushing forward to a ball outside off stump, but when Pothas was run out after failing to get the better of Goodwin at mid wicket, Wasim produced his best batting performance yet for Hampshire.

The sponsors may have changed from the days Wasim revelled in one-day competitions with Lancashire but the Pakistani rolled back the years with the bat, striking 38 from 40 balls, including two huge sixes over mid wicket.

The first, off off-spinner Davis, thudded into a wheely bin on the ground's perimeter and the second, off Winchester's Billy Taylor, bounced into the bookstall.

With Simon Katich also enjoying his best innings since his arrival, Hampshire looked set to accelerate to a formidable total.

But Wasim, who had overtaken Katich when he struck one of his three fours in the 35th over, was needlessly run out in the 40th, after putting on 59 at four and a half an over with the Australian.

Katich guided the ball down to third man but, after returning for a second, he found himself at the same end as Wasim, who had decided that one was enough.

Wasim was run out by several yards after Martin Jenkins threw to the bowler's end and, after Hamblin came and went, Mascarenhas departed in similar fashion.

Hamblin top-edged an attempted pull to mid wicket where Prior, who replaced Kevin Innes in the only change from the side that lost at the Rose Bowl on Sunday, took a simple catch.

In the same over, Mascarenhas opened the face and ran the ball down to James Kirtley at third man. After returning for a second he was sent back by Katich and run out by ten yards.

Will Kendall at least continued the momentum provided by Wasim, with 21 off just 16 balls before he lost his leg stump to a Billy Taylor yorker.

Katich was still at the crease at the end of Hampshire's innings, having made 82 from 95 balls. It should have been enough to win his new county a place in round four.