Paul Terry is hopeful that Shane Warne will be back to face Worcestershire tomorrow to lead Hampshire's bid to stay in the County Championship title mix.

Warne has missed Hampshire's last three games and it was at first feared that he would miss the remainder of the season after picking up a side injury against Lancashire that scans initially indicated was a broken rib.

But following a second scan, the injury has been downgraded to a muscle tear and Hampshire physio Andrew Nealon said over the weekend that Warne was making "good progress" and had an "outside chance" of appearing against relegated Worcestershire.

Team manager Terry confirmed that Warne could return after yesterday's defeat against Surrey.

"Hopefully yes," Terry said when asked whether Warne will be playing. "He wants to play without a doubt".

Looking further ahead, of Hampshire's England trio only Dimitri Mascarenhas has any chance of playing a part in what is left of Hampshire's Championship campaign.

But that could now be in doubt after Essex all-rounder Ravi Bopara suffered a dislocation and minor fracture of his right thumb against India yesterday.

If Bopara misses the remainder of the current one day series, it will put a question mark over whether he will be fit to take his place in England's Twenty20 World Cup squad that will travel to South Africa for the two week tournament on September 9.

And Terry thinks that could open the door for Mascarenhas to be called up.

Talking about yesterday's innings loss to Surrey, meanwhile, Terry said: "It is a big blow because we only took three points.

"We really need to be going to Worcester tomorrow and getting a result".

Terry was particularly disappointed with the leg before dismissal of stand-in skipper Nic Pothas, which all but ended Hampshire's resistance.

"Understandably he was not very happy," Terry said. "It was a poor decision. People make bad decisions and that wasn't a good decision. It's disappointing for him, he has fought all day and it ends like that.

"They (Pothas and David Griffiths) thought they could save it (the game), which is the main thing.

"Obviously I am disapointed with the way it finished but we put on a great effort to get there".