TRENT Bridge tomorrow will be a different place from the one it was yesterday.

The World Cup cricket bandwagon would have rolled out of Nottingham, to be replaced by something else which is gaining momentum - Hampshire's PPP Healthcare Championsip challenge.

There are those who are still pinching themselves and struggling to come to terms with the fact that Hampshire top the table for the first time since 1992, Robin Smith's side having been written off in most quarters before the season even started. But, after initially surprising themselves, Hampshire have woken up to the fact that after their win over Middlesex at Lord's they are leading the championship by right. And, according to vicecaptain Shaun Udal, they aim to stay there.

"It's a good feeling being top of the table and one that the vast majority of players here won't have experienced before. I think I can just about remember when we were top last time," says Udal.

"But it's a feeling we like and, while nobody is being brash enough to say we're going to win the championship, we'd like to stay there as long as possible."

Hampshire are buoyant and confident and eyeing a win at Trent Bridge where the Clive Rice revolution hasn't ignited just yet.

The former Notts player was brought in at great expense at the start of the season to kickstart the place, silverware having been in very short supply since Rice's days as a player when they won the championship.

In those days, there were a hard, tough competitive side, which Rice epitomised and his brief is to try and rekindle that.

Rice is hoping that Notts will get good service from Vasbert Drakes, the Bajan allrounder who was with Sussex for a time and Richard Stemp was also signed to boost Notts' spin attack, although Rice will have to work to keep the talented slowleftarmer's fragile temperament in check. But Hampshire are confident of adding more weight to their championship challenge at Trent Bridge, according to Udal.

"We've got a game in hand over the other teams at the top and we reckon our next two games against Nottinghamshire and Essex are both winnable," says the Hampshire vicecaptain.

The side to play at Nottingham is unchanged from the lineup that beat Middlesex: Stephenson, White, Kendall, Smith, Aymes, Kenway, Mascaranhas, Udal, Alex Morris, McClean, Hartley, with Matthew Keech as the twelth man.

Against Yorkshire on Monday the side will be chosen from those 12 as well as Simon Renshaw.

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