Dimitri Mascarenhas failed to inspire Hampshire to a second B&H win in three days - but only just as they lost by six wickets at Sussex.

Mascarenhas, right, was the surprise inclusion in the Hampshire side, coming in for the injured vice-aptain Will Kendall after recovering from the back trouble that had kept him out against Kent and at Surrey.

His performance with the ball was phenomenal considering that the ten overs he bowled straight through were his first ince pulling up four balls into his first spell of the season against Leicestershire last week.

But Mascarenhas, who was backed up by the economy and the experience of Mullally and Udal, had it all to do after another failure from the middle order.

When the 24 year-old went for a duck, lbw to James Kirtley, Hampshire had lost three wickets for one run and were throwing away another blistering start from Neil Johnson and James Hamblin.

Hamblin had once again been sensational in his pinch-hitting role, striking 33 off just 20 balls before he top-edged an attempted ball against the bowling of Winchester' Billy Taylor.

Robin Martin-Jenkins had conceded 22 runs in bowling the first over of the day and Hamblin did most of the damage - a straight six into the Arthur Gilligan Stand was one of many exquisite attacking strokes from the 23-year-old.

But Hamblin departed at the beginning of the seventh over, straight after Johnson had snicked an attempted cover drive to diving Tim Ambrose.

At that point Hampshire had rattled up 63 but the middle order failed again.

Taylor, the brother of Havant and Waterlooville striker James, did much of the damage, adding the wickets of Derek Kenway and Shaun Udal to that of Hamblin in finishing the pick of the Sussex attack with his 3-26.

But then Mascarenhas brought Robin Smith's side back into the match. With ten overs Mascarenhas took three of the four Sussex wickets to fall, conceding just 19 runs, in a strangling spell in tandem with Alan Mullally.

When he found danger man Murray Goodwin's outside edge with the score on 51 in the 18th over, five an over was needed and that rate was soon to increase to more than a run-a-ball.

But the diminutive Tony Cottey then began to take the game away from Hampshire, smashing James Hamblin for a six over mid-wicket in bringing up his 50 in just 60 balls.

Then, after he departed, Chris Adams bagan to cut loose after a patient start.

Adams lost two balls on the way to winning the Gold Award for his 118-ball unbeaten 80.

The first call for a new ball came in the 45th over after the Sussex skipper had struck a maximum hit off Hamblin.

Not only did Adams clear mid-wicket boundary, he cleared the adjacent beer tent.

That left Sussex needing a run a ball off the last three overs before Adams lost another ball after hitting a six over extra cover, this time off the bowling of Neil Johnson.

After that a Sussex win was a formality and Martin-Jenkins struck the winning run with the final ball of the penultimate over from Mullally.