A comprehensive second successive defeat, under the Hove floodlights against rivals Sussex, has dented Hampshire’s Twenty20 Cup hopes ahead of Sunday’s Rose Bowl clash against Surrey.

Sussex were without the injured duo of Murray Goodwin and Matt Prior but still chased down the 123 they needed, to win by eight wickets, with 17 balls to spare, after Hampshire posted a below-par 122-7, having won the toss.

Chris Nash struck an unbetaen 56 from just 47 balls and Dwayne Smith continued his good form against Hampshire with a 29-ball 31 not out to see Sussex home Hopes were high for Hampshire when Hamza Riazuddin knocked out former Brighton striker Joe Gatting’s off stump in his first over.

But successive Luke Wright fours, driven and cut against Riazuddin, put Hampshire behind the eight-ball.

And the momentum was firmly with Sussex when Riazuddin dropped Wright on 23 at mid-off, having missed another difficult chance at mid-on to see of Nash.

Michael Carberry held on to an excellent low catch when Wright (28) reverse swept Imran Tahir to backward square leg in the ninth over.

But Smith helped maintain the pace putting on 73 in just eight overs with Nash, who reached his fifty from 43 balls (six fours).

An expensive final over, littered with no-balled bouncers, from Mascarenhas, in his last Hampshire appearance before the World Twenty20, saw Smith level the scores with two fours.

And Nash sealed the win for the home side by launching the next ball, from former Sussex man Billy Taylor, over mid-wicket for Sussex’s only six.

Hampshire, bowled out for their lowest Twenty20 score (85) by the same opponents in a floodlit match at the Rose Bowl last year, had been restricted to 122-7 by Sussex’s accuracy and athleticism - and an inventive bowling change.

They never recovered from the loss of three early wickets.

After hitting Yasir Arafat for six over the short mid-wicket boundary in the second over, Michael Lumb (11) was bowled by the Pakistani’s next ball as he attempted a repeat.

Inexplicably, Ervine (1) was run out in the next over after hurtling down the wicket – only to be sent back by Jimmy Adams. Smith’s arrow-like direct hit from backward point did the rest. When Adams (8) edged a James Kirtley slower ball in the Sussex veteran’s tight first over, the fourth of the innings, Hampshire were 27-3.

After helping Michael Carberry mount a recovery of sorts, Chris Benham (11) holed out to long off in the tenth, during Sussex captain Michael Yardy’s tourniquet-like spell from the Sea End.

Nine overs had passed without a boundary before Liam Dawson reduced the tension with a cover-driven four against fellow slow left-armer Yardy.

Carberry drove rookie leg-spinner Will Beer for a straight maximum in the next over in a bid to increase the momentum.

But Hampshire were stopped in their tracks by the loss of two wickets in Smith’s only over, the 16th.

After helping Carberry add 43 in six overs, Dawson was trapped lbw by the West Indian’s first delivery for a 17-ball 23.

And Carberry chipped Smith’s fourth ball straight to cover for 36 (38 balls) before Mascarenhas (10) skied a high return catch, which the excellent Kirtley held on to at the second attempt, at the beginning of Hampshire’s penultimate over.

Nic Pothas’s unbeaten 15 ensured Sussex would need more than a run a ball to win, but it was not enough.