Hampshire continued their disappointing start to the Twenty20 Cup with a convincing six-wicket loss against Surrey at The Oval this afternoon.

In a game reduced to 10 overs a side following heavy overnight rain, Surrey made the most of the damp conditions.

They restricted the Hawks to 72 for eight, with spinners Nayan Doshi (three wickets for six runs) and Chris Schofield (two for 16) sharing five wickets.

Alistair Brown then steered the Brown Caps to victory with a brilliant 31 from 20 balls, despite being involved in two run outs.

The first was James Benning - who was left short of the crease after scoring 11 - and then Mark Ramprakash was beaten by a direct hit without facing a ball.

Brown himself was then dismissed by a brilliant catch by Adam Voges at point and then Rikki Clarke was the fourth man to fall clean bowled for nine.

An unbeaten 21 from Azhar Mahmood at the end saw the Brown Caps win with seven balls to spare.

Having won the toss, Hampshire were quickly into their stride with openers Michael Carberry and Michael Lumb playing some glorious shots either side of the wicket.

The pair shared an opening stand of 36 before Lumb became the first wicket to fall in the fourth over of the innings.

Having struck Jade Dernbach for a superb cover drive boundary with the previous ball, the left-hander was deceived by a full length delivery and clean bowled for 19.

Voges went in the next over for just one with Doshi's second ball - the Australian tried to sweep the Surrey spinner and was beaten by the flight and neatly stumped by Jonathan Batty.

The introduction of Schofield saw the leg-spinner take two wickets in his first over.

First to go was Carberry for 20, caught on the square leg boundary from an attempted sweep.

Two balls later skipper Dimitri Mascarenhas went for three, trying to pull a long hop which looped off the splice straight back to Schofield.

The seventh over saw Doshi pick up two wickets with successive deliveries.

Chris Tremlett looked to pull a straight ball and was bowled for two, then Greg Lamb pushed forward and the ball looped to the wicketkeeper off an inside edge to leave the Hawks 46 for six.

The half-century was brought up in the eighth over and Sean Ervine struck a couple of mighty blows before he became the seventh wicket to fall in the final over.

The left-hander played across the line and was trapped leg before by Azhar for 14, then Nic Pothas fell with the final ball, run out for four.

For the best report and reaction from The Oval, don't miss tomorrow's Daily Echo.