The Hampshire Hawks beat the Essex Eagles, the defending champions, in a Pro40 thriller at a sodden Rose Bowl.

Veteran off-spinner Shaun Udal used all his experience to secure a two-run win against an Essex side that has won the National League for the last two seasons.

Having been set 225 to win in 25 overs, Essex were reduced to 25-3 but a fifth-wicket partnership of 103 in ten overs between Grant Flower and James Foster ensured a dramatic finish.

With one over left, Essex needed 13 runs to win with three wickets left, but Udal restricted former Hampshire bowler Andy Bichel to six runs off the first three deliveries.

Then, after Bichel scampered a single, Essex number-ten Tony Palladino was run out after being sent back to the striker's end, having initially returned for a second.

That left six needed off the last two balls, but last-man Jahid Ahmed could only manage a single - and with a four needed for a tie Bichel could only find Michael Lumb at deep mid-wicket.

It was a thrilling end to a match that did not begin until 4pm after overnight rain fell on an already saturated outfield.

There were boos from a 5,000-plus crowd when it was announced at 3pm, with the sun shining, that the game would be a 25 overs-a-side contest.

But the decision to cut 40 overs from the match was justified as it soon became clear how wet the outfield was.

After winning the toss, Hampshire captain Shane Warne did not hesitate in deciding to bat first on a sand-based wicket considered the best on the Rose Bowl square.

The Essex fielders struggled to keep their balance at times and Hampshire's left-handed trio of Michael Lumb, Sean Ervine and Michael Carberry feasted on the short boundary on the eastern side of the square.

Lumb pulled Bichel for two sixes in his 40-ball 62 and put on 59 in six overs with Ervine (57 from 38 balls).

Both were run out, Lumb by Varun Chopra at deep square-leg after returning for a second.

Carberry increased the tempo, cracking three maximum hits against Graham Napier's medium pace in his unbeaten 35 (16 balls).

Carberry's second six was a colossal strike dispatched against the fence on the border of the Rose Bowl berm.

Chris Benham's 24 (19 balls) also helped the Hawks make 224-6, a far better effort than an albeit less experienced Hampshire side had produced in any of the Twenty20 Cup matches.

A comfortable win against the side that bowled Hampshire out for 75 in the Friends Provident Trophy at Chelmsford looked likely when one-day debutant Daren Powell pinned Chopra with a yorker after James Bruce dismissed the Essex openers in his first three overs.

But after Ravi Bopara had been well caught by Udal at mid-off, Flower (54 from 36 balls) and Foster (61 from 40 balls) took Essex into a winning position.

Flower smashed 24 runs from five Bruce deliveries in the ninth over, including two sixes, and when he holed out to long on Essex needed 65 from more than seven overs, with five wickets left.

Foster continued the assault, crashing a second six against Warne over extra cover before lofting Powell to Dimitri Mascarenhas at long-off.

Ryan Ten Doeschate (21 from 15 balls) hit his first ball from Warne, a full toss, for a straight six before he was trapped lbw by Powell with three overs left.

Powell completed a good one-day debut with the wicket of Napier, who was eventually given out caught beind in the penultimate over, before the tense denouement.

HAMPSHIRE

LUMB 62 (40 balls)

CRAWLEY c Ahmed b Bopara 10 (9)

ERVINE run out 57 (38)

BENHAM c Napier b Bichel 24 (19)

MASCARENHAS c ten Doeschate b Bopara 8 (9)

CARBERRY 35* (16)

POTHAS c Ahmed b Palladino 17 (13)

WARNE 5* (4)

EXTRAS 6 (4w 2lb)

TOTAL 224-6 (25 overs)

Fall of wickets - 49 (Crawley), 109 (Lumb), 154 (Ervine), 163 (Benham), 166 (Mascarenhas), 203 (Pothas)

Essex bowling: Bichel 5-0-38-1, Palladino 3-0-25-1, Bopara 5-0-44-2, Napier 5-0-64-0, Middlebrook 5-0-32-0, Ahmed 2-0-19-0

ESSEX

PETTINI c Carberry b Bruce 7 (9)

MIDDLEBROOK b Bruce 14 (15)

BOPARA c Bruce b Ervine 21 (13)

CHOPRA lbw b Powell 1 (3)

FLOWER c Powell b Udal 54 (36)

FOSTER c Mascarenhas b Powell 61 (40)

TEN DOESCHATE lbw b Powell 21 (15)

BICHEL 24* (13)

NAPIER c Pothas b Powell 5 (5)

PALLADINO run out 0 (0)

AHMED 1* (1)

EXTRAS 13 (10w 3lb)

TOTAL - 222-9 (25 overs)

Fall of wicket - 14 (Pettini), 24 (Middlebrook), 25 (Chopra), 56 (Bopara) 159 (Flower), 187 (Foster) 190 (ten Doeschate) 212 (Napier), 219 (Palladino)

Hampshire bowling: Bruce 5-0-48-2, Powell 5-0-30-4, Ervine 4-0-43-1, Mascarenhas 2-0-22-0, Warne 5-0-42-0, Udal 4-0-34-1