INTERNATIONAL cricket will be coming to Hampshire in two years' time after the county's Rose Bowl ground was awarded one-day international status.

It is astonishing news for Hampshire after just one summer at their £17million home.

Twelve months ago, the county was facing a race against time to ensure the ground would be completed, as the ambitious project was dogged by construction delays, the weather and mounting costs.

But yesterday, the champagne corks were popping with the news from Lord's that, so long as development continues on cricket facilities and Hampshire can reach a deal on staging agreements, the Rose Bowl will host its first one-day international in 2004.

ECB chief executive Tim Lamb, said: "This is an historic day for Hampshire and a richly-deserved reward for all those within the club who have worked so hard to make the Rose Bowl such a splendid setting.

"Although the ground is not currently scheduled to host Test matches, there is no reason why it should not be considered as a Test venue at some point in the future once we have had time to evaluate its performance in one-day cricket."

Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove said: "The decision is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of members, staff and officers of this club who are thoroughly deserving of this recognition.

"We remain committed to the provision of the very finest facilities available for the staging of international cricket and we now move forward to our forthcoming fund-raising activities with renewed vigour and confidence."

The current capacity of the Rose Bowl is 6,000. Work is currently taking place to fit out the pavilion at a cost of £2m which will add another 600 seats.

Chief executive Graham Walker pointed out that ultimately it would be possible for the Rose Bowl to have a capacity approaching 20,000.

"We will do it in stages," he said. "We have a crawl, walk, run strategy at Hampshire, and that is what we will continue to do.

"Initially we plan to bring the capacity up to 10,000 but we will go to 20,000."

That increased capacity, plus the building of other top-notch facilities at the ground, is expected to cost a further £6m, which will be funded by a private share issue.

The ECB will choose which match Hampshire will host next year. The standard capacity to stage an England game is 16,000. If Hampshire are unable to reach that figure in two years' time, then it is likely they will host a non-England international as part of a triangular series.