David Griffiths is hoping to break into Hampshire's Championship team after starring on his Twenty20 debut.

Griffiths will play in tonight's must-win Twenty20 Cup game against the Essex Eagles at Chelmsford, having taken 3-13 on debut against the same opponents at the Rose Bowl on Sunday.

But the 21-year-old already has his sights on going a step further and breaking into Shane Warne's Championship team.

With Stuart Clark gone and Dimitri Mascarenhas likely to miss four-day games because of England duty later in the season, there is every chance Griffiths will make his first-class debut before the end of the summer.

Griffiths is rejuvenated after recovering from a stress fracture of the back and spending the winter working hard in Perth with former Hampshire bowling coach Bruce Reid.

He is also now more resistant to injury following gym sessions with Iain Brunnschweiler, the Hampshire fitness coach.

Griffiths said: "PT said at the start of the Twenty20 that he was going to give youngsters a go and I want to kick on and play more first-team stuff.

"Bruce Reid has been a massive influence, I did a lot of stuff with him out in Perth and this is the first time I've had an injury-free run.

"It's all helped me to kick on this year."

Hampshire will be knocked out if they lose to Essex tonight.

The best combination of results for the Hawks would be a win at Chelmsford and a win for Surrey over Sussex, the Hawks' final South division opponents at Hove tomorrow evening, at the Brit Oval.

The Hawks' hopes of sneaking through to the quarter finals as one of the two best third-placed teams will also be boosted if Worcestershire lose to Glamorgan in the Mid/West/Wales division at Himley this evening.