HAMPSHIRE are confident of averaging more than the Rose Bowl's current attendance record for their forthcoming SIX one-day cricket internationals.

The Rose Bowl capacity of 9,000 is being increased to 15,000 with the addition of several temporary stands for their five ICC Trophy matches in September.

England, Australia, India and the West Indies are all playing group games at the four-year-old Rose Bowl, and one of the semi-finals will also be held there.

Providing Pakistan reach the semi-final at West End, Hampshire will go down in history as the first international venue in world cricket to have hosted ALL the current Test-playing nations - Bangladesh having only played on a handful of English grounds.

Hampshire have already sold over 10,000 tickets for England's game against Sri Lanka on September 17 - the first time the English national side will ever have played a competitive match in Southampton

It will only be the second time ever a senior England side in a massively popular sport have played in the city - England's football team drew 2-2 with Macedonia at St Mary's in October 2002.

Officials believe an ICC sell-out is highly likely given the current success of Michael Vaughan's side, who have won six of their last seven Test matches.

The semi-final should also sell out while Hampshire have already flogged over 6,000 tickets for India's match against Sri Lanka on September 11.

They have also sold 8,400 tickets for next month's West Indies v New Zealand NatWest Series international - just 600 shy of the ground capacity.

That's compared to the 6,800 which saw last year's debut one-day international at The Rose Bowl between South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Even given crowds of only 2,000 for the Australia v USA and West Indies v Bangladesh ICC Trophy games, that means around 53,000 fans could attend the six matches in all.

That works out as an average of around 8,800 - compared to the Rose Bowl record of 8,500 set last July for the opening Twenty20 clash with Sussex.

Rose Bowl ticket office manageress Jill Smithers said: "We have had a fantastic response.

"I know football is dominating at the moment but there'll be a big push for the ICC Trophy after Euro 2004 has finished.

"We've had a great response from the Indian fans for their game - and they have also been buying tickets for the semi-final."

Next year the NatWest Series sees England and Australia joined by minnows Bangladesh.

The fixture list for that tournament is expected soon with Hampshire a favourite to be awarded a prestigious Ashes one-day clash - which would see a 15,000 crowd limit set again.

Hampshire managing director Nick Pike revealed the county had to bid for the right to stage ICC Trophy matches, but that it was money well spent.

"The games will further raise the profile of the Rose Bowl and place it firmly on the international cricket scene," he remarked.

"We had a great response to the international last year and I'm absolutely sure the successful running of that helped our case.

"We had very positive feedback from people like Health & Safety and the amount of tickets we sold for the South Africa v Zimbabwe game was also well up on the attendances for the same game at other venues."

The Rose Bowl's ICC Trophy schedule:

Sat 11 Sept: India v Kenya.

Mon, 13 Sept: Australia v USA.

Wed, 15 Sept: West Indies v Bangladesh.

Fri, 17 Sept: Sri Lanka v England.

Wed, 22 Sept: Semi-final

The Twenty20 Cup starts again next month with Hampshire aiming to build on last season's off-field successes - in addition to the 8,500 crowd for the Sussex clash, they attracted over 6,000 for the visit of star-studded Surrey.

Hampshire's home matches in the tournament this year are against Kent and Middlesex.

Pike said: "I don't see why we can't attract similar crowds again this year.

"The Twenty20 is going to be a permanent part of the fixture list, and last year proved it's a form of the game that families want to come and watch."

Tickets for the NatWest Series and ICC Trophy are available from www.hampshirecricket.com or by calling 0870 243 0291. For hospitality queries contact 023 8047 2009.