HAMPSHIRE Hawks overcame their home-sickness to notch only their second win of the season.

Hawks flew higher than Essex Eagles at a County Ground home which has become a haunted house this campaign.

The six-wicket win was their first victory at Southampton in eight games in all competitions - moving them off the bottom of Division 2.

Suddenly, things have started to come good for Hampshire and perhaps they are running into form at the right time.

Hampshire eased home on the bridle, Will Kendall pulling Ashley Cowan for the winning four with 16 balls to spare.

Kendall and Dimi Mascarenhas saw Hampshire home with an unbeaten 73-run partnership in 14 overs.

The pair came together at a potentially iffy time, Hampshire having lost three wickets for eight runs in five overs in one of their speciality middle-order wobbles.

Having been given a solid start by Derek Kenway and John Stephenson, Danny Law set knees a-knocking by bowling Stephenson, and then Warne first-ball as the pinch-hitting experiment went back to the drawing board.

And when Kenway fell to a superbly-judged catch by Ronnie Irani running back at long-off, there were a few rolling eyeballs and mutters.

The nerves were steadied by a 33-run union between Kendall and Jason Laney, and even when Laney fell to an ugly heave across the line to Paul Grayson, Kendall and Mascarenhas batted with the sort of responsibility and ease that has not always been seen this season.

Time and overs were on their side and they kept risk to a minimum, although Mascarenhas was dropped by sub Graham Napier when he had made just one and offered a tougher gully chance to Peters when he was on lucky 13.

The Eagles scorecard had a strange, lop-sided look to it with Stephen Peters and Nasser Hussain the sole providers. Paul Prichard just lurched into double figures and Barry Hyam added 16 in a 27-run partnership for the ninth wicket that was the highest in the Essex innings.

Until that little tail-waggle, Hawks always had the Eagles on the back foot and labouring, none more so than Shane Warne who magicked his best one-day figures for the county of 4-24.

He fought out an impelling duel with England captain Hussain, who never looked totally at home. As an escapologist, you just hope Hussain never tries any of Houdini's stunts involving tanks of water.

His attempt to throw off the Warne-imposed strait-jacket involved a reverse sweep in which the ball appeared to run up his arm off his glove, and loop off his shoulder before Aymes produced a superb diving catch. He was given an England captain's benefit of the doubt on that one, but he was allowed no such privilege in Warne's next over when he was adjudged leg-before a fair way down to a delivery that had already started to turn.

It was an afternoon when Warnie got all his toys out the box and invited everyone to play. It was a beguiling display of his craft, even if the Eagles didn't enjoy it; Grayson was caught attempting to cut Warne's flipper, while Danny Law was bowled round his legs.

Hyam lofted Warne for a six in the last over but Warne had the last laugh when he ended Peters's 72-ball resistance with the last delivery, turning one past his charge and leaving him stumped by a metric mile.

Hampshire's bowling was not just about Warne, though, John Stephenson claimed only his second National League wicket of the season but it was the key one of Essex skipper Irani, Peter Hartley again bowled better than his figures suggest and claimed the pricless scalp of Aussie Stuart Law, victim of a superb one-handed slip catch by Warne, and Alan Mullally weighed in with two wickets.

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