With seven runs needed for 350 Paul Nixon the man who could have guaranteed them fell to

With seven runs needed for 350, Paul Nixon, the man who could have guaranteed them, fell to the third ball.Two runs later, Matthew Brimson, the last man, was dropped at midwicket off Simon Renshaw. He then twice edged Jim Bovill for four before being bowled.Two dazzling slip catches by Phil Simmons brought Robin Smith walking in to a familiar Hampshire crisis at 20 for two. He had time to attempt to hook Millns before the next shower, top-edging for six, and signalled the resumption with a beautifully timed off-drive, off the same bowler, for four. His next score brought Paul Whitaker to Millns' end and an angry fast bowler hurled a grenade into the stumps. By then Parsons had returned for his second spell and, by varying his length and making the ball seam, he ripped out the middle order with three wickets in nine balls for no runs.

He was altogether too quick and ferocious for all but Robin Smith here.Leicestershire needed only five overs to ensure maximum batting points - in a season when the title could be decided by bonus points - showing in that short spell how their confidence brings luck. A delay of 50 minutes was followed by two more breaks for heavy rain, keeping David Millns refreshed and leaving Hampshire's batsmen looking un-nerved by his lift and pace and unable to settle in to the innings. Millns, next to Devon Malcolm, is the fastest Englishman and a very good case could have been made for his opening the England bowling with Andrew Caddick at the Oval. However seasoned Medina is, he will not have faced that kind of power, and Hamed should dismiss him inside three rounds Impressive? Yeah, but .... While the leaders Derbyshire are enjoying a match off, smirking at their rivals' scurrying in and out of the rain, Leicestershire were putting a damp, green square to good use after losing the whole of the second day. When yesterday's fourth heavy shower fell at tea, Hampshire were facing the follow-on.

If the weather relents for the Bank Holiday, the Running Fox could be ahead of the pack again. Medina was floored twice in a winning title fight against Troy Dorsey, and has been shaken in other major fights, including his WBC title win over Alejandro Gonzalez a week before Hamed dethroned Robinson in Cardiff.Hamed's punching power is prodigious - even his cruiserweight gym-mate Johnny Nelson says he has frequently been hurt in sparring sessions with an opponent he outweighs by around five stones. The fact only 23 of his wins have come inside the distance virtually eliminates him as a threat. The only way to beat Hamed is to hurt him not just once but repeatedly, and anyone lacking the power to do so is in trouble. Both are major names in Las Vegas, and a league above Medina or Steve Robinson, from whom Hamed won his title 11 months ago.Medina has won six of his 10 world title fights for an overall record of 52 wins and seven defeats. To earn that recognition, Hamed will have to beat one of the game's genuine superstars, like Azumah Nelson, the ageless Ghanaian who, at 37, continues to dominate the super-featherweight category (9st 4lb), or Marco Antonio Barrera, the unbeaten young Mexican who holds the WBO super-bantamweight (8st 10lb) title. "It's the best thing that could have happened to him," he said.

"It gave him a kick up the backside, and hopefully it will stop his being so careless another time." It was Hamed's first live appearance on American major TV, and the knockdown made for a dramatic fight that showcased his style and chilling finishing power.I watched the fight in the Las Vegas home of Wayne McCullough, the WBC bantamweight champ and one of the few men in the business who wants to fight Hamed. Afterwards, I took soundings from a few of the local sports bars - always a useful reference point. Reaction was positive and confirmed the belief that "the flashy little English guy with the big punch" and the world's most flamboyant city were made for each other.Hamed could have boxed there by now, but his promoter, Frank Warren, wants him to make his Vegas debut at the top of the bill rather than buried in a supporting role. A solid win over Medina, who is respected on the American circuit, would boost his marketability, especially if he followed it up with a unification match against the IBF champion Tom Johnson, who also defends his title on the Dublin show.Johnson, who has beaten Medina in two of their three title meetings, is regarded as the best of the champions, a label Hamed covets. Hamed bounced straight back up to demolish Alicea in the second, and viewed the knockdown as no more than a temporary embarrassment.Brendan Ingle, the trainer who has nurtured Hamed's talent since the boy was seven, has a more positive view. Even if he is not the force he was in his prime, it is worth noting that the man he took the WBC title off a year ago, Alejandro Gonzalez of Mexico, would probably have been considered too severe a test for Hamed at that time. The 29-year-old from Tijuana is certainly the best boxer Hamed has faced, but he looks destined to go the way of the other 22 men the Sheffield prodigy has met since launching his career four years ago.

Hamed has displaced Chris Eubank as the fighter the fans love to hate, and no doubt there were whoops of delight from the armchair punters when his last challenger, the unbeaten Puerto Rican Daniel Alicea, sent him crashing in the opening round. Medina has held the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Council versions: he was IBF champion in 1991-92, and WBC champion for three months last year. what do you expect?" The begrudgers will be heard again after Hamed disposes of the next challenger for his World Boxing Organisation featherweight title, the vastly experienced and undeniably competent Mexican Manuel Medina, whom he meets in Dublin on Saturday night. However spectacular his victory, they always find a way to downgrade it: were he to knock out Mike Tyson in the first round, some barstool pundit would still say: "Yeah, but Tyson had only fought three times in five years... The evidence is accumulating that Naseem Hamed's enthusiastic assessment of his own abilities may indeed be accurate, but there remains a hard core among the public and the critics who prefer not to believe their eyes and retreat instead behind the "Yeah, but" line of defence. If he's been fishing for the past 20 years, as he claims, and he's now 33, that means he was fishing five days a week at 13.Another Lousy Day in Paradise by John Gierach, pounds 14.99, Excellent Press.. There's a lot more stuff like that in his latest book, which I'll tell you about next week.Incidentally, Eric Brown might be one hell of a dedicated fisherman but he's also a bit of a fibber.