IT is easy to gloss over Hampshire’s poor start to the LV County Championship season by focusing on the joy of their Great Escape.

So it is to Hampshire’s credit that, once the euphoria of staying in the first division had settled down, they set themselves the target of starting next season as well as they finished the 2015 campaign.

Reaching the Royal London One-Day Cup quarter-finals and the T20 Blast semi-finals was satisfactory albeit below the standards Hampshire have set themselves in recent seasons.

But for two thirds of the season, their Championship performances disappointed.

The tone was set by a 92-run defeat at home to Sussex in the opening game, which swiftly followed the announcement that overseas signing Jackson Bird would be unavailable for the foreseeable with a mystery shoulder/back injury.

Without him they only took 46 points from their first six games (they would take 85 from their last six under James Vince’s captaincy).

Two of those first half dozen matches featured a rusty Fidel Edwards.

Little did we know how inspiring a signing the West Indian would become when he made his debut in the 305-run defeat against champions Yorkshire at a chilly Headingley in early May - his first first-class match for more than a year.

Those first six games also featured draws against Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire and Middlesex.

It was not just the lack of firepower that did for Hampshire in April and May. James Vince only managed 173 runs at an average of 15.7 from his first 11 innings and his only Championship hundred of the season, against Warwickshire last month, was Hampshire’s first of the season by a top-six batsman.

There was encouragement at the beginning of June, when Vince made his first half-century of the season as Hampshire showed what they were capable down the road to Hove.

Gareth Berg took 4-67 before scoring a run-a-ball 99 in an eighth-wicket stand of 165 with Adam Wheater (111) as Hampshire secured a first-innings lead of 141 against Sussex.

Bird took match figures of 5-141 on debut and Edwards gave a first glimpse of the form that would inspire Hampshire during the season’s second half.

The Bajan bowled at the speed of light at in reducing Sussex to 23-3 in their second innings. He finished with 5-58 as Hampshire clinched victory by six wickets thanks to an unbeaten 62 from Sean Terry.

It turned out to be a win even more crucial than it was at the time. But Hampshire’s season was still to reach its nadir.

Three thrashings in less than three weeks at the end of June and start of July saw Hampshire rooted to the foot of the table, 26 points adrift of nearest rivals Sussex and Worcestershire.

Back-to-back nine-wicket defeats, at home Somerset and against Middlesex at Lord’s, were followed by the innings and 33-run defeat at New Road, Worcester, that widened the Championship’s trapdoor considerably.

It was at this point that Jimmy Adams passed the captaincy to Vince, which heralded a run of three wins, two draws and a sole defeat against Yorkshire after three encouraging days against the champions.

His first game in charge was against Durham and a fourth successive defeat seemed inevitable when Hampshire were reduced to 167-9 in their final innings.

Chris Rushworth, the Professional Cricketers’ Association’s Player of the Year for his 83 Championship wickets at 20.6, followed his season’s-best 6-39 in the first innings with 3-39 before Ryan Pringle’s off-spin left Hampshire on the brink.

With several fielders crowding the bat, Lewis McManus and Mason Crane batted out the last 32 balls to secure the draw.

It was the season’s pivotal moment. Not only had Hampshire secured five vital points, but the rearguard galvanised Hampshire and ensured their fresh start under Vince began positively.

Fittingly, McManus and Crane are products of the academy. They only played two more matches between them, but their determination that Wednesday afternoon in mid-July ensured they will have the opportunity to play in the Championship’s first division next year.

Having taken 76 points from their ten games before Durham’s visit, Hampshire took 75 from their last five.

Crane, like Fidel, was a catalyst for Hampshire’s upturn, following his 4-72 in Durham’s second innings with 5-35 as Warwickshire were beaten by 216 runs at The Ageas Bowl.

Vince’s first century of the season – an unbeaten 125 – was overshadowed by Edwards, who in his first game since returning from the Caribbean Premier League, recorded match figures of 9-87.

Crane was dropped for the September denouement, which began with Ryans McLaren and Stevenson making their debuts as Durham were beaten in a low-scoring match by seven wickets at the Riverside.

The momentum was with Hampshire, but another twist soon followed as they conceded a first-innings deficit of 390 against Somerset at Taunton.

Thankfully Adams returned to form when he was needed most. Having struggled for most of his benefit season in the Championship, he hit 136 as Hampshire followed their first-innings 240 with 411-4.

Hampshire may well have beaten Yorkshire in their final game had they had fine weather.

Having secured all five batting points by making 400-9, Hampshire reduced Yorkshire to 97-4 only for rain to intervene.

With the champions in the best bargaining position, Hampshire had to defend 304 on the final day, after agreeing to forfeit their second innings in return for an overnight declaration by Yorkshire.

Defeat, by six wickets, meant Hampshire had to win their final game away to Nottinghamshire, with the Championship’s form team boosted by the availability of Stuart Broad. . .and hope for a Yorkshire win against Sussex at Headingley.

That they managed both made last Friday arguably the most memorable day for Hampshire in the two-division Championship. Staying up by two points was celebrated as fervently as winning the division two title by the same margin at Cardiff a year earlier. It surpassed Hampshire’s previous survival tales.

The escape of 2008, inspired by the leg-spin of Imran Tahir rather than the pace of Edwards, also ended with a win against Notts at Trent Bridge. But the hard work had already been done. Likewise, the 2010 survival was secured at Kent in the penultimate game. 2015 was, without doubt, the Greatest Escape.

But it needs to be used as a foundation. With more talent coming through there is no reason why that should not be the case.