Forget all that nonsense about the Twenty20 Cup being a bowlers' nightmare.

Sussex took all ten Hampshire wickets in 12 overs at the Rose Bowl last night, but they still ended up losing by five runs in a chaotic curtain-raiser to the new competition.

Tim Ambrose and Mushtaq Ahmed looked to be guiding them to victory when they put on 45 in four overs to leave the county needing nine off the last over from former Sussex bowler Ed Giddins to overhaul Hampshire's 153.

Giddins had been expensive in his first two overs but he kept his nerve, conceding just four singles and bowling Mushtaq as he made room on the leg side as Sussex finished on 148-7.

Ambrose top-scored with 54, made off 39 balls with seven fours and a six, surprisingly only the second of the match.

The 21-year-old had earlier capped an impressive wicketkeeping performance with two stumpings and a run out as Hampshire were embarrassingly bowled out without using their 20 overs allocation.

He did not deserve to be on the losing side and would surely have had the consolation of the man of the match award had Sussex won.

Instead that went to a player with Sussex connections, James Hamblin, who plays his club cricket for Eastbourne.

Ambrose's team-mates will lick their wounds and reflect as they look forward to their next match against Surrey on Monday that margins in these games are going to be very tight.

Sussex's inability to build any decent partnerships in the first half of their innings, despite useful cameos from Bas Zuiderent and Robin Martin-Jenkins, ultimately proved decisive.

Zuiderent took 14 off Giddins' first over, but Wasim Akram used all his experience to make sure the Sharks were unable to emulate the flying start Hamblin and Derek Kenway had given the Hampshire innings.

Wasim conceded just a wide in each of his first two overs and he also dismissed Matt Prior and Murray Goodwin with successive deliveries in his second as Prior was bowled playing across a straight one and Goodwin leg before.

After that, Hampshire had the happy knack of breaking partnerships just when Sussex were gaining some momentum.

After Chris Adams holed out to cover, Zuiderent and Martin-Jenkins put on 21 in two overs before Zuiderent fell leg before, the second victim for Dimitri Mascerenhas, after making 25 off 20 balls.

Martin-Jenkins was bowled slogging at Hamblin and when Kevin Innes swept Shaun Udal to short fine leg Sussex were 100-6 in the 15th over and seemingly out of contention.

Ambrose clearly believes no cause is a lost cause.

He took three boundaries off Mascerenhas in the 17th over and between them the eighth wicket pair plundered three more off a distinctly non-plussed Wasim in the penultimate over.

Giddins' first two overs had gone for 15 but his captain John Crawley clearly had more faith in him than the majority of the 8,600 crowd.

It was certainly not a surprise to those who remember Giddins from his Sussex days that he seemed to revel in the responsibility.

Crawley's opposite number could not complain about the performance of Sussex's bowlers who fought back well after Hamblin and Kenway had clobbered 12 of the 16 boundaries in the Hampshire innings in a first wicket stand of 66 in eight overs.

Jason Lewry made the breakthrough when he bowled Hamblin with his first ball and the left-armer also removed the dangerous Akram.

Heaven knows what the great Pakistani all-rounder, a veteran of over 500 one-day internationals and Tests, made of his first experience of Twenty20 cricket, especially when he was introduced to the crowd as Simon Katich.

Hampshire wickets fell regularly after that.

Among the seamers only Kevin Innes really suffered while off-spinner Mark Davis, assisted by the outstanding Ambrose, took 3-13 including two wickets in a remarkable final over when Hampshire also lost Udal, run out by Martin-Jenkins' throw from the mid-wicket boundary.

Sussex travel to Imber Court on Monday to face Surrey (5.30pm) in their next Twenty20 Cup tie.

Hampshire (2 pts) beat Sussex (0 pts) by 5 runs