They may not have made England’s ICC World Twenty20 squad, but Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell were far too good for the Hampshire Royals at the Rose Bowl tonight.

Hampshire captain Nic Pothas won the toss for the eighth time in as many matches this season but, once again, it went downhill from there for the Royals.

Imran Tahir took 1 for 26 from eight overs to limit his former teammates to 211-8 - before Trott and Bell led Warwickshire to their first one-day win at the Rose Bowl, by seven wickets with 26 balls to spare.

Warwickshire maintained their 100 per cent record in the competition with a fourth successive win to cement their place at the top of Clydesdale Bank 40’s Group C.

But Hampshire remain rooted to the foot of the table and will struggle to reach the semi-finals after a third successive defeat in the new one-day competition.

If they lose against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge on Sunday, the Royals will surely only have a relegation scrap in the Championship and the Friends Provident Trophy t20 to play for.

They are already blooding the youngsters. Debutant Chris Wood did little wrong last night and nor did James Vince and Liam Dawson.

But it was men against boys as Trott and Bell displayed their class with a second-wicket partnership of 155 in 26.4 overs.

Trott has effectively been replaced by Hampshire’s Michael Lumb at the top of England’s Twenty20 batting order but he led from the front, making an unbeaten 96 (115 balls) as Warwickshire cruised home.

Bell, controversially left out of Warwickshire’s 2007 FP Trophy semi-final defeat against Hampshire in 2007, made his first one-day runs at the Rose Bowl with ease, a run-a-ball 71, before gloving an attempted pull against Rangana Herath.

James Tomlinson claimed Jim Troughton as his second wicket before a wide and a no-ball in the same over took Warwickshire to their target.

If there was a positive for Hampshire, at least Neil McKenzie scored his first fifty for the county in any form of cricket, an unbeaten 62 from 77 balls.

But the Royals lost wickets regularly and openers Michael Carberry and Jimmy Adams failed to provide the desired start, both edging attempted cuts in Chris Woakes’ opening spell.

A third-wicket stand of 40 in eight overs between Vince and Sean Ervine ended when they were dismissed in successive Boyd Rankin overs.

Vince (30) was lbw after another dashing cameo and in-form Ervine was bowled via an inside edge for a run-a-ball 35.

But McKenzie knitted the Royals innings together.

He added 37 with Nic Pothas before the Hampshire captain was lbw to Tahir.

McKenzie’s sixth-wicket stand of 50 in nine overs with Liam Dawson ended when the Hampshire tyro was caught at the wicket, the first of two dismissals in successive Darren Maddy overs.

The medium pacer yorked Dominic Cork and soon after getting off the mark with the first ball he faced in senior cricket, Wood pulled Carter to Tahir at mid-wicket.

By then McKenzie had reached a 67-ball fifty, which included one four and a pulled six against Rankin.

He survived a stumping on 35, but used all his experience to guide the Royals to their highest one-day total of the season.

Sadly, it was not nearly enough against a Warwickshire side that has now won its last ten one-day matches.