Hampshire edged out a high-scoring thriller as Kyle Abbott and Mason Crane held their nerve against Sussex Sharks at The Ageas Bowl.

David Wiese scored an epic 171 to take Sussex within 13 runs of a victory after slipping to 103-5.

But Abbott’s 10th over, the 49th of the match, turned the game back into Hampshire’s direction as he got rid of Wiese and Danny Briggs and only went for nine runs.

While Crane took 4-55, including two in the final over to put Hampshire on the brink of a knockout spot.

The result was as incredible as Sussex’s one-wicket win over Essex on Tuesday, which saw Will Beer and Laurie Evans put on a three-figure stand for the seventh wicket before Briggs scored the winning runs with a ball to spare.

On that occasion, the Sussex players sang The Great Escape’s theme tune on their return to the dressing room.

Hampshire sang it after winning this epic ElClasicoast.

It looked like a regulation Hampshire win when Luke Wright was bowled by Kyle Abbott in the third over before Phil Salt flashed to Aneurin Donald at point.

The slide continued when Garton was lbw attempting to reverse sweep Liam Dawson and Harry Finch pulled a Fuller bouncer to deep square-leg.

When Dawson bowled Evans, all appeared lost for Sussex with the match drifting towards a simple home win – but Wiese and Brown collided to swing the game towards the visitors.

Wiese had proven his batting prowess earlier in the tournament when he scored 93 not out against Surrey.

Wiese then went through the gears effectively as he reached his half century in 57 balls.

And his acceleration was quantified as only needed 26 more balls to reach three figures, with six fours and three maximums included in the barrage.

Alongside Wiese, Brown was quietly accompanying with a pacy half century of his own.

Wiese took the WASP from a one per cent of victory to 81 per cent as he moved past 150 in 120 balls.

Brown departed for 64 with 21 still to win when he reverse-swept to Dawson at backward point.

But Abbott found Wiese rarely mishitting to long-on before Briggs chipped to Gareth Berg.

And the crazy game was concluded when Crane had Will Beer and Mir Hamza stumped.

Earlier, Hampshire had appeared to score an unassailable 355 after stand-in captain Sam Northeast won the toss and elected to bat.

With James Vince on England duty in Ireland, Aneurin Donald opened with Alsop.

The pair put on 78, a best opening stand for the season before Donald was well caught pulling to the square-leg boundary, while pulling, but that didn’t deter Hampshire.

Markram pumped a pair of sixes over extra-cover, while half of his 16 fours came between cover and mid-on. His fifty came from 48 deliveries.

Sussex’s fielding was well-below par, and probably cost them a chunk of runs, with Markram and Alsop both shelled on their way to three figures.

The184-run partnership took Hampshire to the last 10 overs just one wicket down before Alsop, having reached 100 off 116 balls, picked out George Garton at long off – the stand worth 184.

Markram continued his fun and reached his maiden century for Hampshire in his penultimate fixture before the World Cup from 73 balls.

Rilee Rossouw and James Fuller were hoisted up the order to boost the run rate but both departed, alongside Markram in the last five overs in ensuring they scored just enough.

SCORECARD
Hampshire innings
TP Alsop †c Garton b Briggs 124 (132)
AHT Donald c Salt b Beer 41 (46)
AK Markram b Mir Hamza 130 (87)
RR Rossouw b Mir Hamza 20 (21)
JK Fuller  c & b Sakande 6 (6)
LA Dawson not out 14 (7)
SA Northeast (c) not out 3 (4)
Extras 17 (b 1, lb 1, nb 6, w 4, pen 5)
TOTAL 355-5 (50 overs)
Did not bat: BJ Taylor, GK Berg, KJ Abbott, MS Crane
Fall of wickets: 1-78 (AHT Donald, 14.6 ov), 2-262 (TP Alsop, 40.3 ov), 3-317 (RR Rossouw, 46.1 ov), 4-333 (JK Fuller, 47.6 ov), 5-335 (AK Markram, 48.2 ov)
BOWLING: Mir Hamza 10-0-62-2, D Wiese 9-0-66-0,WAT Beer 10-0-53-1, A Sakande 10-1-67-1, GHS Garton 2-0-24-0, DR Briggs 9-0-76-1.

Sussex innings (target: 356 runs from 50 overs)
PD Salt c Donald b Berg 31 (34)
LJ Wright b Abbott 3 (5)
GHS Garton lbw b Dawson 18 (27)
HZ Finch c Crane b Fuller 12 (17)
LJ Evans b Dawson 21 (23)
D Wiese c Crane b Abbott 171 (126)
BC Brown (c) † c Dawson b Crane 64 (56)
WAT Beer st †Alsop b Crane 4 (9)
DR Briggs c Berg b Abbott 0 (1)
A Sakande not out 0 (0)
Mir Hamza st †Alsop b Crane 0 (1)
Extras 22 (b 8, lb 4, nb 4, w 6)
TOTAL 346 all out (49.3 overs)
Fall of wickets: 1-18 (LJ Wright, 2.1 ov), 2-52 (PD Salt, 9.6 ov), 3-58 (GHS Garton, 12.1 ov), 4-74 (HZ Finch, 15.5 ov), 5-103 (LJ Evans, 20.6 ov), 6-335 (BC Brown, 47.1 ov), 7-343 (D Wiese, 48.3 ov), 8-344 (DR Briggs, 48.5 ov), 9-346 (WAT Beer, 49.2 ov), 10-346 (Mir Hamza, 49.3 ov)
BOWLING: KJ Abbott 10-0-64-3, GK Berg 10-0-61-1, LA Dawson 10-0-42-2, JK Fuller 8-0-79-1, MS Crane 7.3-0-55-3, BJ Taylor 3-0-26-0, AK Markram 1-0-7-0