HAMPSHIRE captain James Vince admits rain on day four of his side's LV= Insurance County Championship against Lancashire came as a surprise, adding: "I hadn't even checked the forecast."

The first three days had set up the tantalising prospect of Lancashire needing 342 more runs and Hampshire requiring 10 wickets.

But light rain swept over the Ageas Bowl from around 10.30am on Sunday, throughout the morning and afternoon.

“It is frustrating because we worked hard to get into a position on day four to go and win the game but it isn’t something we can control," said Hampshire captain James Vince.

“We saw (on Saturday night) in the six overs there was still some encouragement with the new ball and I think (Liam) Dawson and (Felix) Organ would have played a part (on Sunday) as well. 

"They would have had the pressure of 340 behind and I felt there was more in this wicket than at Canterbury last week to take the 10 wickets. I would have liked to think we would have got over the line."

He added: “We didn’t anticipate (on Saturday) not bowling a ball (on Sunday), I hadn’t even checked the forecast, it hadn’t crossed my mind. It is annoying because it has hardly rained.

“The reason we stayed was to get that over back, but there isn’t a lot we can do about that now. We are mindful of the (slow) over rate but we were a bit surprised by the forecast.”

Hampshire host Gloucestershire from Thursday.