Mascarenhas steals the show

Dimitri Mascarenhas claimed three wickets before hitting a crucial unbeaten 56

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Simon Jones showed signs of returning to his Ashes form and Chris Tremlett was outstanding for Hampshire, but they were both upstaged by Dimitri Mascarenhas in the four-wicket win over Worcestershire.

Hampshire captain Mascarenhas guided his side to victory after taking three wickets and then hitting an unbeaten 56.

The hosts slipped to 65 for six in pursuit of the 202 needed to win at the Rose Bowl.

It was then that Mascarenhas, who has been prevented by his country from returning to play in the semi-finals of the Indian Premier League, joined opening batsman Michael Brown.

The seventh-wicket pair were not parted, putting on an unbroken 137 in 31 overs to enable Hampshire to complete their recovery and win with 13 balls to spare.

Hampshire captain Mascarenhas also made a wise decision in choosing to field first as Worcestershire soon slumped to 66 for six in the face of some impressive new-ball bowling from Tremlett and Mascarenhas.

Tremlett, called into the England squad for the second npower Test at Old Trafford, put a back injury behind him to dismiss Graeme Hick and Daryl Mitchell on the way to figures of 2-44.

Mascarenhas sent back openers Steven Davies and Vikram Solanki as well as Ben Smith to finish with 3-37.

Gareth Batty and Kabir Ali put on 50 in 15 overs for the seventh wicket and there were useful contributions at the end from Gareth Andrew and Steve Magoffin as Worcestershire recovered to post 201 for eight from 50 overs.

Hampshire were soon in trouble when they replied with Michael Carberry out to the second ball of the innings - lbw to Kabir Ali - and Michael Lumb soon followed, bowled around his legs.

The hosts also lost Sean Ervine, Chris Benham and James Adams as their target appeared increasingly difficult.

At the heart of the Worcestershire bowling performance was former Glamorgan fast bowler Jones, who extracted pace and bounce from a docile wicket.

Jones' first spell contained three maidens and the wickets of Adams and Greg Lamb, first ball, to leave the injury-troubled bowler on a hat-trick.

Mascarenhas averted that problem and went on to reach his half-century off 89 balls.

Jones bowled 10 hostile overs to finish with 2-38 but there was little he could do to prevent Mascarenhas and Brown building their substantial partnership. Brown's 96 not out - his highest score in one-day cricket - encompassed 127 balls.