Liam Dawson spun Hampshire to the top of the LV= Insurance County Championship with one round of fixtures to play after Nottinghamshire capitulated after tea on a dramatic third day at the Ageas Bowl to sink to a 122-run defeat.
On a day of action heavily affected by rain elsewhere, the Ageas Bowl was only one of three venues were play was possible on Tuesday.
Chasing 250 for victory, the visitors started well but lost nine wickets after the interval for 81 runs as Dawson finished with five for 45 and Felix Organ three for 22 after Mohammad Abbas had taken the crucial wicket of Ben Duckett for 33.
After bowling out the hosts for 178 following a delayed start, Liam Patterson-White with five for 41, the visitors were 46 for one at tea only to be bundled out for 127 on a dramatic day in Southampton.
The win left Hampshire in position to seal a first championship title since 1973 when they play Lancashire at Liverpool starting next Tuesday.
Lancashire kept their flickering title hopes alive by completing a 10-wicket thrashing of Somerset before lunch on the third day at Taunton.
The home side could add only 88 to their overnight second-innings score of 226 for four before being bowled out for 314, avoiding an innings defeat but setting Lancashire only 32 to win.
There were two wickets each for Tom Bailey, George Balderson and Jack Blatherwick while Luke Wells, who had figures of three for eight on day two, was not required to bowl again.
Lancashire openers Balderson and Alex Davies then took six overs to knock off the required runs with the morning session extended slightly for the match to be completed, as the visitors took 23 points from the match.
No play was possible in the other Division One game, leaving Yorkshire still on 50 for three chasing 224 to beat Warwickshire.
Gloucestershire went through the 400 barrier for the first time this season before ripping through the Glamorgan top order to put them in pole position for victory after day three of their clash at Sophia Gardens.
Having reached 39 without loss, Glamorgan finished the day on 57 for six when the players went off for bad light at 5.50pm – still 53 runs behind going into the final day. Zafar Gohar took three for seven in 10 overs.
Resuming on 224 for four, the visitors picked up maximum batting points on a day when their lower order came up trumps with 195 runs for the last five wickets.
Leading the way was Tom Price, whose 71 included nine fours and took his team past Glamorgan’s first-innings total of 309 at 419 all out to leave the home side with a mountain to climb.
Derbyshire v Kent, Leicestershire v Sussex, Middlesex v Worcestershire, Northamptonshire v Durham and Surrey v Essex all saw no play possible on Tuesday due to the rain.
