Lumb leads Hawks home

Michael Lumb had no trouble taking Hampshire to victory

Michael Lumb (82) and Sean Ervine (80 not out) shared a second-wicket partnership of 147 as Hampshire kept the pressure on NatWest Pro40 Division One leaders Worcestershire by cruising to victory against Warwickshire.

Hampshire crushed their opponents by eight wickets at The Rose Bowl after the Bears posted a paltry 196 for eight despite winning the toss and electing to bat.

Jonathan Trott (90) appeared to be guiding Warwickshire to a 200-plus total before he was bowled by Shaun Udal with eight overs to go, sparking a collapse.

Lumb and Ervine made light work of reaching 197 with the win coming with 64 balls to spare.

Warwickshire had made an encouraging start at a warm and sunny Rose Bowl racing to 69 without loss through some scatter-gun bowling by West Indies international Daren Powell.

Darren Maddy (30) was the first to go as he attempted to flick James Bruce to fine leg but instead ended up being nutmegged by the Hampshire pace-man.

Trott's half-century from 77 balls gave hope for a healthy total as he and Kumar Sangkkara (16) put on 75 for the Bears' second wicket.

The Sri Lanka batsman was removed as he attempted to hit Ervine over mid-wicket only to find the tried and trusted hands of John Crawley.

Spinner Shaun Udal rolled back the years © Getty Images

England wicket-keeping prospect Tim Ambrose (five) soon followed as he was caught by Udal in the deep.

And it was the Hampshire veteran of 21 years who claimed the crucial wicket of Trott as the South Africa-born batsman rocked onto his back foot only to play and miss and see his stumps removed.

The wickets then started to fall in a similar fashion as Warwickshire made hard work of finding boundaries with only one coming from their last 15 overs.

Debutant Vaughn van Jaarsveld (13) was bowled again by Udal in a similar way to Trott before Tim Groenewald (seven) and Jim Troughton (nine) fell victim to Billy Taylor.

Crawley's good day in the field continued as he snared Heath Streak with a catch of real quality.

Under the glare of the floodlights there was an early glimmer of hope for out-of-form Warwickshire who had only recorded one win in the Pro40 all season.

Indeed when Crawley (14) was dismissed on the final ball of the sixth over from a James Anyon delivery which moved considerably, the Bears should have applied more pressure.

Ervine's arrival to the crease was initially awkward as the Zimbabwean all-rounder struggled to get off the mark.

At the other end, Lumb was progressing at a rapid rate bringing his 50 up from 36 balls.

The hundred for Hampshire soon followed, brought up in the 16th over as they continued to coast towards victory.

Ervine, after a shaky start, began to echo Lumb's sublime strokeplay with some eloquent shots and his 50 was marginally less spectacular, coming from 51 balls, but both continued to make a dent in the Warwickshire total without any real trouble from a largely ineffective bowling attack.

Lumb was dismissed by Anyon just six runs short but the incoming Michael Carberry (five not out) kept his nerve to win the game with a quick single and leave his side two points adrift of table-topping Worcestershire.