A brutal, unbroken second-wicket partnership of 108 in only nine overs between Luke Wright and Chris Adams swept Sussex to the top of the Twenty20 Cup South division and sent more than 9,000 spectators trudging away from the Rose Bowl wondering why they had bothered to turn out on such a filthy night.

Hampshire, without Shane Warne, their captain and inspiration, who wisely opts out of this sort of stuff at the age of 37, have never been farther than the quarter-finals and they are not enjoying the Twenty20 experience this season.

Having tied their first match against Kent, they were beaten by Surrey and Middlesex in matches shortened by the weather, had a stone thrown through the window of their coach at Southgate and complained about the abuse they have been getting from opposition supporters.

It did not get any better last night. Heavy rain delayed the start by an hour, reducing the match to 13 overs a side, and Hampshire were slow to get out of the blocks. Michael Lumb was well caught by Andrew Hodd, an emerging wicketkeeper, in Rana Naved-ul-Hasan’s first over and Sean Ervine flicked Robin Martin-Jenkins to fine leg.

It was left to Adam Voges, the Western Australia batsman who was in Australia’s XII at one stage of the Ashes series last winter, to give the innings impetus with the first fifty that Hampshire have made in the competition this season.

He made an unbeaten 66, hitting sixes off James Kirtley, Mushtaq Ahmed, Martin-Jenkins and Wright, but they were isolated blows in an unbroken, third-wicket stand of 62 in six overs with Chris Benham.

Chris Tremlett raised Hampshire’s hopes of defending a total of 103 when he sent Murray Goodwin’s middle stump cartwheeling, but Wright and Adams quickly seized control with a venomous assault on all the bowlers.

Wright, 22, who has already been on an England A tour, had shown what he could do, with a hundred off only 44 balls aganst Kent the night before. He simply carried on where he had left off, hitting an unbeaten 49 off 29 balls, with two sixes.

The all-rounder was still upstaged by his captain, though, as Adams plundered 56 from 27 balls, with three sixes and four fours, his most meaningful blow coming when he drove Greg Lamb straight down the ground to settle the issue with three overs to spare.