Hampshire lost FIVE wickets without scoring in crashing to a shock defeat at home to Durham.

John Crawley, Dominic Thornely, Sean Ervine, Chris Benham and Dimitri Mascarenhas were all dismissed in the space of 11 BALLS as Hampshire lost their second championship match of the season by 227 runs.

Durham''s first win at The Rose Bowl in six attempts in both forms of the game is a huge dent to Hampshire's championship hopes, with title rivals Sussex and Lancashire both on course for victories in the next 24 hours.

But Hampshire made a solid start in progressing to 83-2 after being set a Rose Bowl-record 332 to win before inexplicably collapsing to 83-7 in the face of accurate swing bowling from Callum Thorp and Dale Benkenstein.

Shane Warne, Nic Pothas and Chris Tremlett soon followed as Hampshire were bowled out for 104, their lowest ever total against Durham the previous lowest being their 189 at the Riverside three years ago.

Durham had batted themselves into a commanding position yesterday morning when, after resuming on 165-3, they made 353, a lead of 331.

It was a daunting lead.

Durham showed that the wicket was not as bad as the collapse suggested.

But Hampshire have never successfully chased more than the 233-6 they managed against Somerset in 2002, while only Northants have successfully chased more than 300 at The Rose Bowl they made 330-5 in a winning cause here in 2003.

Hampshire just buckled under the pressure.

Durham made 188 yesterday morning against an attack minus the injured James Bruce (shoulder) and Sean Ervine (knee).

The only positive for the hosts was the form of Chris Tremlett, who took 3-60 from 16.1 overs yesterday, and gained admirable support from Dimi Mascarenhas (3-55)and Dominic Thornely.

Skipper Shane Warne, however, looked strangely out of sorts and in need of the well-deserved rest that he will get when he returns to Australia.

Unhappy with the wicket that was prepared on the western side of the ground, Warne took 0-20 from the seven overs he bowled yesterday, the first four of which were medium pace.

Hampshire were not helped by four dropped catches, three of which were put down by Ervine and one by substitute Udal.

Durham capitalised.

Callum Thorp (28 from 35 balls) continued to play the match of his life and Ottis Gibson hit Mascarenhas for a huge six over mid on during his unbeaten 37.

Hampshire needed a repeat of Jimmy Adams' Headingley heroics from someone if they were to get anywhere near the 332 target.

Adams failed to build on his encouraging start, but his 32 turned out to be the highest score of a forgettable innings.

An agonising ten minutes saw Hampshire lose five key batsmen with the scoreboard stuck on 83.

First Crawley (31) edged to Thorp at slip at the end of the 28th over.

Then Thornely lost his off and middle stumps to the medium pace of Benkenstein, and three balls later left-hander Ervine was dismissed by a brilliant leg side stumping from Phil Mustard.

Chris Benham also departed for a three-ball duck, prodding Thorp to short leg in the next over, before Mascarenhas fended the first ball he faced to gully.

Warne played the hat-trick ball on to the leg side and then hit 12 from eight balls before he was bowled when he completely missed an agricultural heave.

There was to be no valiant partnership.

Nic Pothas became Thorp's fifth victim of the innings when he slashed to first slip and, when Tremlett lost his off stump to an inswinging yorker to Graham Onions, it was all over.

It was an incredible collapse, not least because its main orchestrator was a 31-year-old (Thorp) with a career best of 3-10 prior to this match, but who bettered that in both innings to finish with 11-97.

As for Hampshire, it is to be hoped that this is their one big defeat for the season.

In 2004, they lost by an innings and 44 runs against Nottinghamshire and by 384 runs against Essex.

And last year they were thrashed by ten wickets by Warwickshire and by an innings and 55 runs against Surrey.

Another humbling between now and September could be the difference between a third successive runners up spot the first of which was in the second division and a first championship title since 1973.

Hampshire have to wait another three weeks for the chance to get this championship defeat out of their systems. But that may be a good thing as it gives time for Bruce, Warne and Ervine to recover from their injuries.