Michael Carberry played the innings of his life, making a career-best 192 to lead Hampshire to victory with three balls to spare after they were set 331 in 92 overs. It was Warwickshire’s first defeat of the season and they will be smarting after agreeing to reduce a target that had been provisionally agreed on Tuesday evening.

Shane Warne, master of kidology that he is, persuaded Warwickshire yesterday that 354 in 96 overs on a fourth-day pitch was not feasible. But with the best part of two days’ play lost to the weather, a slow surface was effectively only in its second day of use. Moreover, the sun shone all day, further enhancing good batting conditions.

Hampshire still had to bat well and they needed to make 32 off the final four overs and six off the last. They also benefited from an early dropped catch by Darren Maddy at second slip off Heath Streak. Michael Brown, on nought at the time, was dismissed in the thirteenth over, but the middle order were spared having to negotiate a new ball that swung lavishly.

Although Carberry was fortunate that several edges and miscues did not go to hand, his innings showed real maturity. Necessarily circumspect in the first half of his 371-minute stay, he battled to his first hundred of the season from 183 balls. His next fifty took him only 32 balls in a violent posttea assault that led to an attack of cramp and with it the need for a runner.

Contained by the admirable Streak, Carberry and Dimitri Mascarenhas found the prospect of making 86 off the last 23 overs far from straightforward. The latter managed only two fours from 68 balls, but crucially he stayed until the end. Carberry finished with 24 fours, many driven powerfully through the off side, as well a vital late six off James Anyon.