Shane Warne insists the Hampshire Hawks can still win the Friends Provident Trophy.

Warne's men need a further 153 from 17.3 overs to beat Durham, after rain ensured that Hampshire's fifith Lord's final will have to be finished on Sunday.

But Warne is still hopeful, with Nic Pothas and Dimitri Mascarenhas still at the crease.

He said: "We can always cling on to hope. Hopefully tomorrow the two guys who are in and myself and Chris Tremlett down the order can put soem pressaure on Durham.

"You just never know what's going to happen. I'd rather be in their position than ours but I remember this sort of situation at Edgbaston in 2005 so there's still a chance."

Durham captain Dale Benkenstein said: "There's plenty of cricket left - Warney's still got to bat!"

Warne insisted he did not regret electing to bowl first after winning the toss.

"I wouldn't have done anything differently, I think they'd have bowled as well because it was always going to nip around, but we didn't bowl very well in the first few overs."

A few hours later Warne could only watch as Ottis Gibson dismissed Michael Lumb, Sean Ervine and Kevin Pietersen to leave the Hawks reeling on 17-3 after Durham had made a record 313.

He continued: "Getting 300 batting first is like hitting a drive 300 yards down the middle! To then lose Lumb and Ervine off the first two balls was a huge blow because they score so fast and make life difficult, like Phil Mustard did for them.

"Pothas and Mascarenhas have got us out of a lot of trouble in the past but we're nearly out of the game and Durham deserve credit, they were superb today.

"I thought we were looking at chasing 350 at one stage but they took a bit of momentum from the last two or three overs and taking two wickets with the first two balls changed the game."

Warne is relieved that the reserve day at least ensures a repeat of the farcical scenes at the World Cup final should be avoided - although the forecast for tomorrow is also poor.

He added: "Everyone wants the ideal scenario - finish in one day. But if the weather means we have to come back over two days so be it because we don't want a Duckworth Lewis result.

"It won't be the last time teams have had to come back to finish a final and it won't be the last in this country - I haven't seen the sun for a few months!"

Warne admitted that leaving out veteran off spinner Shaun Udal in favour of in-form seamer James Bruce was one of the hardest decisions he has had to make as Hampshire captain.

He added: "Shaun Udal has done an excellent job for Hampshire for a long period of time so it was a really tough decision but given the conditions it was one of those things.

"Shaggy might have been able to take a wicket or two in the midle overs, who knows, but Lord's doesn't really spin a lot and we thought the seamers would do a good job. We just didn't bowl well but James Bruce did a pretty good job by getting Mustard in his first over back."

There was one moment of controversy involving Tremlett.

But both Warne and Benkenstein defended the England man for bowling a beamer at Ottis Gibson.

The veteran all rounder had pulled the first ball of his cameo for a six against the Hampshire seamer and followed up with a cover- driven four.

Tremlett responded with a potentially lethal beamer.

Benkenstein said: "Ottis did well to get out of the way, but I think Chris was more embarrassed than anything."

Warne said: "Everyone knows what Chris Tremlett's like, a lack of aggression has been one of his problems!

"He said 'sorry' straight away and they shook hands. I'd be disappointed if anyone thought it was deliberate."