Chris Liddle made an instant impact in the Twenty20 Cup to help Sussex clinch their first victory of the season.

Liddle has never played in the competition before, either for Sussex or his former county Leicestershire, but was given the nod ahead of Will Beer at the Rose Bowl yesterday as the Sharks attempted to halt a run of five consecutive defeats.

It proved an inspired move as the left-arm seamer ripped the heart out of Hampshire's top order with a triple wicket maiden in his second over.

He ripped out Greg Lumb, Chris Benham and Sean Ervine in the space of four balls and when Dwayne Smith then dismissed Michael Carberry with the first delivery of the next over the Hawks had slumped from 38-0 to 43-5.

Suddenly the confidence which had taken such a battering over the past two weeks was back and Sussex looked a completely different team.

Up until that point it looked like being the same old story for the Sharks as Ian Harvey and Lumb put on 37 in the first four overs but then the Sharks finally came to life with a devastating bowling performance.

James Kirtley started the collapse by getting rid of Ian Harvey and then Liddle showed what a dangerous bowler he can be when the ball is moving around.

Both Lumb and Benham were caught behind to viciously swinging deliveries, two of four victims for Andrew Hodd who was wearing the gloves again in place of Matt Prior.

Smith then produced a brilliant piece of athletic fielding to have Carberry caught and bowled, changing directions in his follow through to grab the ball inches above the ground.

It was always going to be an uphill battle for the Hawks to reach three figures from there and they were unable to mount a recovery as they were bowled out for just 85 with ten balls remaining, their lowest ever score in the competition.

Liddle finished with impressive figures of 4-15 from 3.2 overs to collect the man-of-the-match award but it was not a one man show by any means. Smith, Michael Yardy and Kirtley picked up two wickets apiece while the fielding performance was much improved apart from a careless drop by Rory Hamilton-Brown.

Sussex could afford to be watchful in reply but instead they carried their aggressive approach into the batting as they knocked off the runs in just 9.3 overs.

The only blemish was the loss of Chris Nash for 12 when he clipped a ball from Hamza Riazuddin straight to Nantie Hayward at leg slip.

After that Murray Goodwin and Chris Adams decided to get things over as quickly as they put on a 57 partnership in six overs.

Goodwin led the way scoring his 46 off just 26 balls, including three successive fours in the tenth over to clinch an emphatic victory and lift spirits ahead of the visit of Surrey.