Nottinghamshire's opening fixture of the LV= Insurance County Championship season ended in defeat, with Hampshire prevailing by eight wickets on the third evening at the Ageas Bowl.

Resuming on 146/6 on what proved to be the final morning, the visitors added 31 runs to their second innings total to set the hosts 132 to win.

Despite Luke Fletcher removing Felix Organ without scoring before lunch, Fletcha Middleton, who hit his second half-century of the encounter, and Nick Gubbins guided Hampshire to victory.

Earlier, Tom Moores and Olly Stone entered the fray at 11am with a three-figure lead in the bank and the sun beaming down for a second successive day in Southampton.

Alas, they both ran into a fired-up Mohammad Abbas, who dismissed both batters inside his opening four overs of the day.

Against a moving red ball, Dane Paterson enjoyed some success in finding the fence twice amid a cameo laced with attacking intent, but he would ultimately become Abbas’ third victim of the morning when he edged behind for 11.

Liam Patterson-White and Fletcher stood firm for three quarters of an hour, stretching the lead to 132, before the introduction of Liam Dawson accounted for the former.

Facing a tricky period before the lunch interval, Hampshire lost Organ to a ripping Fletcher delivery, with the hosts heading to the break on 14/1.

Fletcher sent down five consecutive maidens at the start of the afternoon session, but Middleton and Gubbins soaked up the pressure and added runs when chances presented themselves.

Middleton would reach his half-century first, capping his County Championship debut in style, before Patterson-White produced a fine delivery to bowl the opener for 66.

Home skipper James Vince (10*) joined Gubbins (54*), and the pair would add the finishing touches to victory in the first over after a Tea interval which was taken with the scores level, as the hosts took 19 points from the match to Nottinghamshire's three.

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