Former Hampshire second XI batsman Damien Shirazi will be fulfilling a dream when he plays first-class cricket at The Rose Bowl this week.

Left hander Shirazi will be opening the batting for Loughborough UCCE at The Rose Bowl against Hampshire the county he first represented at the age of ten.

Shirazi, who comes from Dibden Purlieu in the New Forest, has played several games on The Rose Bowl's Nursery Ground but only a handful on the main square back in 2001-02.

Now 23, Shirazi is studying a two-year Masters degree in coaching studies after three years at Southampton Institute.

He said: "It will be a dream to play a first class match at The Rose Bowl.

"I've always wanted to play there in a proper match so when the fixture list came out one of my first aims for the season was to score enough runs to make sure I played against Hampshire there."

Shirazi has already scored two hundreds for Loughborough UCCE this year and has benefited from the experience of helping British Universities hang on for a draw against Sri Lanka at Fenners last month, with scores of 15 and 20.

But he insists that he will not be aiming to prove a point to Hampshire this week.

"Things didn't really work out for me there but they had a strong batting line up in terms of young players and when I was playing for their second XI they went for more experienced players.

"They've done really well in the last couple of years so I can't really have any complaints, but I'm the leading scorer for Loughborough UCCE this year and am still hoping to find a county.

"I'm going to Worcestershire for a month in June, our coach Graham Dilley has a lot of contacts and he's going to help me give it a real go."

Former BAT CC star Shirazi will be watched by several friends and family this week.

He continued: "I had a great time playing for Hampshire, they were really supportive and I grew up with players like James Tomlinson, Chris Benham and Kevin Latouf (left) so I'm looking forward to playing against them.

"All my uni friends from Southampton Institute are coming along, as well as my old BAT teammates so it should be good fun.

"The Rose Bowl's a great stadium to play cricket at and I'm really looking forward to seeing it with the new floodlights."

Hampshire are expected to name a squad packed with second XI players for the visit of Loughborough UCCE with Billy Taylor and Jimmy Adams expected to play.

Hampshire (possible): Brown, Adams, Benham, McLean, Lamb, Latouf, Stokes, Dawson, Barnes, Taylor, Tomlinson.