Sussex need to beat Essex in their final game at Hove on Tuesday to stand any chance of Twenty20 Cup progress after they came up short in a run chase for the second time in 24 hours.

Losing seven wickets in 22 balls as they slid to defeat against Kent on Thursday was bad enough but at the Rose Bowl last night they threw away a game they were winning until the last three overs.

On a pitch which can be charitably described as bowler-friendly, Sussex could only muster 97-9 chasing Hampshire's 112-5.

Having been in control of their own destiny on Tuesday, back-to-back defeats means only victory in their final game will give them a chance of sneaking into the last eight as one of the best third-placed teams. Even then they will have to rely on Kent beating Surrey, who have a much better nett run rate.

They needed 23 off the last 18 balls and Chris Tremlett got hearts beating a bit quicker in the Sussex dugout by conceding just three runs in the 18th over.

But the real damage was done by Dimitri Mascarenhas, for whom the pitch was ideally suited, when he took two wickets in the penultimate over and Mike Yardy, who looked to be guiding Sussex to victory, was run out.

Yardy, who held the reply together with a composed 37 off 47 balls, was beaten by Mitchell Stokes' throw from the point boundary as he came back for a second run which was always going to be touch and go.

Both Yasir Arafat and Robin Martin-Jenkins holed out to long on looking for a much-needed boundary which left last pair Sean Heather and James Kirtley needing 21 off the last over, an impossible task considering the entire innings included just six fours and a solitary maximum from Yardy.

Sussex tried to be positive at the start of their reply but they lost Matt Prior and Chris Adams early and when they tried to accelerate towards the end they found a desperately slow pitch too constricting.

Hampshire were clearly fired up to end a dismal sequence of results against their neighbours and a crowd of 11,000, the biggest for a domestic match at the Rose Bowl, caught the mood although no one would have gone home with sore arms from waving their numbers boards.

The Hawks fielded superbly with Michael Carberry settingthe tone when he hared around the mid-wicket boundary to take a one-handed catch which removed Prior in the fifth over.

Then the outstanding Billy Taylor struck two crucial blows in an over against his former county. Richard Montgomerie was pinned by one which kept low and Adams drove a slower ball to mid off.

While Yardy was there Sussex had hope and he was patiently rebuilding the innings with Carl Hopkinson when Mascarenhas took two wickets in the 15th over. He ended a fifth wicket stand of 29, easily the highest in the reply, when Hopkinson drove to mid off and Luke Wright soon picked out mid-wicket as he played across a straight one.

Yardy did his best and hit three boundaries but Sussex needed him, or someone in the top six, to see the job through.

It is no coincidence that they have lost two games while their best batsman Murray Goodwin is on the other side of the world.

Batting had been no easier earlier but crucially Dominic Thornely, who struck four of their five boundaries, had got himself established as they plundered 52 from the last five overs. Until Sussex's reply, Hampshire's score of 112-5 was the lowest Twenty20 total at the Rose Bowl.

The pitch must have been manna from heaven for Sussex's seamers who have got used to seeing respectable deliveries disappear into the crowd in Twenty20.

The county have three of the top five wicket-takers and although Mushtaq Ahmed was again absent with a sore neck there was further success for Arafat and Wright who have now taken 14 and 12 wickets respectively although, oddly, Arafat didn't bowl his full allocation.

Arafat removed both openers in his new ball burst and Wright deceived Chris Benham with a slower ball in his first over.

Adams could afford to keep extra men inside the fielding circle after the first six overs as Hampshire went nine overs without finding the boundary.

Greg Lamb and Thornely added 30 in seven overs but when Lamb was trapped in front by Yardy it was left to the Australian to rally Hampshire who were 60-4 when the last five overs began.