TRENT BRIDGE

(Day four of four: Notts won the toss)

Nottinghamshire failed in their improbable final-day bid to wrest back the LV County Championship title after losing to Hampshire by 203 runs at Trent Bridge.

Although Chris Read's side went into the final round of matches with a healthy 10-point advantage over Durham and began this match impressively, they failed to recover from a first-innings batting implosion on the second day.

Set a massive 442-run target in two and a half sessions to claim their second Division One crown in four years, Nottinghamshire went down swinging to complete their second fall at the final hurdle on this ground this summer.

Earlier this month Sussex stole the Natwest Pro40 crown, culminating a fourth Nottinghamshire defeat in five matches when Murray Goodwin hit the final ball for six.

Coach Mick Newell challenged the midlands county to rid themselves of a chokers' tag heading into the second half of this match but although Samit Patel led a brave counter-attack their earlier failings cost dear.

Durham's early-morning demolition of Kent's lower order confirmed that only a Nottinghamshire victory could deny the north-east county a maiden championship title in their 16-year existence as a first-class county.

But in-form Hampshire ensured they faced the stiffest of tasks, setting a 442-run target in a minimum of 76 overs.

They bagan badly, losing three wickets before lunch, but England one-day player Patel launched into his second half-century of the match to offer brief hope of the unthinkable.

He reacted to the loss of fourth-wicket partner Ashwell Prince by striking four fours from one James Tomlinson over, the last of which took him to 50.

But his 94-run alliance with Bilal Shafayat was terminated by a stunning running catch by Dimitri Mascarenhas, who took the ball over his head having set off from mid-on, to give left-arm spinner Liam Dawson a success.

Shafayat, whose 48 included a handsomely-struck straight six, departed soon afterwards when he mis-hit a drive off leg-spinner Imran Tahir and Mascarenhas snapped up another low chance.