Now that's Trent-ertainment!

He was true to his word against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, where he celebrated Hampshire's 14-run win with the same fervour he showed when retaining the Ashes on the same ground four years earlier.

This game could have been ruined by the weather in the same way that the flattest of Trent Bridge tracks resulted in a dull draw between these sides last July. On that occasion Nottinghamshire declined the opportunity to set up an exciting finish.

But since then Jason Gallian has been replaced as captain by Stephen Fleming who, like Warne, has been a breath of fresh air.

With Notts a point clear of Hampshire and with a game in hand, Fleming could easily have settled for the draw and bonus points that would have maintained their advantage.

But after agreeing to make the contest interesting over a meal in an Italian restaurant on Friday night, two of southern hemisphere cricket's brightest lights agreed to make up for a rain-affected first three days.

Five sessions had been lost to rain and, for many, two hours of watching Gallian and David Hussey send down 28.3 overs of declaration fodder was just as depressing.

If a fast forward button could have been pressed it would have been by all present; even Fleming turned his back while standing at first slip as Hussey ran into bowl.

Hussey's medium pace had only yielded four first class wickets in his career prior to this match. But he doubled that tally before Sean Ervine ended a forgettable period of play by hammering four boundaries from the four balls he faced.

The real business began just before lunch. A target of 276 from 65 overs was a tempting carrot for Notts, who needed more than four runs an over on a wicket that did not offer Warne much turn.

Two overs were possible before lunch and, by tea, it was clear that this contest was developing into a thriller.

Notts had lost Darren Bicknell, who became the first of Chris Tremlett's five victims when he was caught at second slip by Greg Lamb.

Meanwhile, the presence behind the stumps of John Crawley, who took two of his five catches during the afternoon session, provided an interesting sub plot.

Nic Pothas was unable to keep wicket because of an injury to his right index finger, but that gave Crawley the chance to equal the record for the number of dismissals in an innings (6) by a Hampshire wicketkeeper.

Gallian and Anurag Singh provided Crawley with the first of his two catches but, at tea, the dangermen were still at the crease in Fleming and Hussey. The evening session was well worth the wait but Notts were on target for a comfortable win while their overseas pair were there.

Hussey was horribly out of touch and Warne let his Victoria teammate know it in no uncertain times as several mistimed shots fell short of Hampshire fielders.

Fleming, meanwhile, was looking masterful.

The left-hander's strokeplay was in stark contrast to Hussey's and when he reached his hundred off 118 balls, a Notts victory looked the only conceivable result.

Fleming spent two and a half fours at the crease in crafting his 105, which included ten fours and three sixes.

He and Hussey put on 132 for the fourth wicket and, when Fleming eventually holed out, Notts needed 49 from 12 overs.

Warne had waited until the 40th over, midway through the Fleming-Hussey partnership, before he introduced himself to the attack. But even he could not have expected his dismissal of Chris Read seven overs later to trigger such a spectacular collapse.

Crawley's emphatic stumping of Read (8) was the first of SIX Notts wickets to fall for 11 runs in just 23 balls.

In the next over Hussey's luck ran out when he was caught behind for 64 to become the first of four wickets in five deliveries from Tremlett.

Then came the thrilling denouement that will be remembered long after the season has ended by all present.

In his next over, Tremlett dismissed Mark Ealham, Graeme Swann and Greg Smith to complete a hat-trick.

Ealham had already been dropped off Warne by former Notts man Richard Logan at backward point - to the delight of the partisan home crowd.

But then Ealham hooked Tremlett to to deep backward square leg, where Pothas defied a damaged right index finger to take a fine catch.

Then Swann was caught down the leg side as he attempted to hook and Tremlett's maiden first class hat-trick was complete when Smith nicked a leg glance.

Tremlett's three-wicket maiden left Notts needing 15 off the last two overs with last pair Andrew Harris and Ryan Sidebottom at the crease.

When Warne beat the defence of Sidebottom with the second ball of the penultimate over, Hampshire's most stunning victory under his captaincy was complete.

Tremlett's hat-trick was the first in first class cricket by a Hampshire player since Kevan James took four wickets in four balls against India in 1996.

Dimitri Mascarenhas managed a Twenty20 treble against Sussex at Hove last year.