TWO years after winning the T20 title in Cardiff, Hampshire have the chance to end the season with more celebrations at The Swalec Stadium.

But they will have to beat Glamorgan over the next four days to guarantee promotion back into the LV County Championship’s first division after a three-year absence.

Rain, centuries from Will Smith and Sean Ervine and stoic resistance from last-man James Tomlinson ensured the draw against Kent at The Ageas Bowl, which has given Hampshire a ten-point advantage over nearest rivals Essex going into the last round of games.

It means Hampshire will only need four points to go up if Essex, who have won five of their last six matches, fail to beat champions-elect Worcestershire at Chelmsford.

With Worcestershire still needing six points to be sure of going up as champions ahead of Hampshire, that will not be easy.

“We’d rather be where we are than Essex but the ten-point lead is neither here nor there – we’ve still got to win our last game,” said Hampshire captain Jimmy Adams.

“A draw won’t be enough if Essex win, so in that sense saving the game against Kent hasn’t changed things too much.

“But from a mental side of things fighting to save that game will hopefully stand us in good stead.

“We’ve said all year that if it goes down to the last hour, that’s the way it’s got to be, and it’s nice to have a lot riding on the last game for once.

“Over the last couple of years we’ve flattered to deceive, we’ve had to set games up to push ourselves into contention but this year we’ve played consistent, hard cricket. We’ve moved a step in the right direction and hopefully we get our rewards this week.”

Hampshire are likely to be unchanged, with Michael Carberry unavailable after undergoing an operation on his hand and Danny Briggs again expected to left out out, following the signing of overseas leg-spinner Imran Tahir.

Briggs is very unfortunate to miss out on the season’s climax as his 27 Championship wickets at just 26.1 apiece are one reason why Hampshire are where they are.

“It was a tough call for Dan, he’s performed really well this year but Imran is a real game-changer,” said Adams.

“If he’d been bowling on the last day [against Kent] he could have made the difference if I’d called the right side of the coin.”

The weather forecast for this week is very good, which increases Briggs’ chances. Meanwhile, Chris Wood, Hampshire’s last-over hero at Cardiff in 2012, continues to struggle with his right knee and is likely to undergo more micro-fracture surgery at the end of the season. But Tahir, pictured, has recovered from the virus that affected him during the Kent match.

“If it’s really going to turn, Danny will come into contention, but everyone’s all right apart from a few frayed nerves,” said Adams, who all being well, will spend his benefit year as a first division player after being confirmed as Hampshire's beneficiary for 2015.

He added: “Who knows, those extra five points against Kent could be crucial or they might not matter but the team’s shown resilience all season and credit to the guys for that.”

Hampshire (probable): Adams, Smith, Dawson, Vince, Alsop, Wheater, Ervine, Wood, Coles, Tahir, Tomlinson.