Hamza: I should have won it

The England U19 all-rounder finished unbeaten on 13 after failing to score four off the last ball of the match under the Oval floodlights.

Riazuddin hit the penultimate delivery for four to set up the tense finish – but failed to beat James Benning on the cover boundary.

He said: “I should have won the game. He (Jade Dernbach) couldn’t have bowled a worse ball to me at the end.

“It was short and wide and with the short boundary in play I should have got hold of it better than I did.

“It’s disappointing that I didn’t get the full blade of the bat on it, but I suppose you could argue that we shouldn’t really have found ourselves in that position anyway.

“It’s a horrible feeling to lose – especially when it gets that tight. To get 13 not out doesn’t mean too much when you lose, but it was an exciting game of cricket.”

Hampshire suffered a middle-order collapse, losing six wickets for 20 runs after a 56-run stand between Chris Benham (39) and Michael Carberry (25).

Riazuddin continued: “When the other team plays really well, you hold your hands up. But in that situation, we were on top.

“We got ourselves into a really good position and we lost wickets at vital times. You can’t blame anyone, but sometimes it just happens that people get out.”

Having added to his impressive list of recent scalps by dismissing Mark Ramprakash with a leg break, Riazuddin relished the opportunity to win the game.

He said: “We were chatting in the dressing room about things before the game and I joked that I’d like to come in needing four off the last ball – it’s funny that it worked out that way!

“I always prefer situations when I’m the underdog – it brings the best out of me when people say “you’re out of the game”.

“Although it hurts that we lost, it’s good experience for me to find myself in that pressure situation and I’m sure we will bounce back at Sussex tomorrow night.”