THEY may still be rooted to the foot of the first division, but Hampshire took heart from the performances of two homegrown talents on the final day of their LV County Championship match against Durham.

In only his second first-class appearance, Lewis McManus secured Hampshire a vital draw with his maiden Championship half-century.

More importantly than his 53 runs were the 166 balls he faced in more than two-and-a-half hours as Hampshire, having been set 305 to win in a minimum of 72 overs, closed on 179-9.

It was fitting that Mason Crane was there at the end after bowling so well on his first-class debut.

The leg-spinner did not bowl as well as in the first innings as Durham, having started the final day on 61-1, reached 190-4 before declaring.

But he took all the wickets to fall, spinning the ball a long way out of the rough while taking 3-47 in seven overs to finish with 4-72.

Wicketkeeper McManus, a teammate of Crane’s for many years, said: “Mason bowled even better than I’ve seen before, he rose to the challenge.”

Left-handers Scott Borthwick (39) and Mark Stoneman (88) were both bowled before Durham captain Paul Collingwood (29no) declared.

Hampshire needed little more than four an over, albeit on a fourth-day wicket, but any hope of a win had gone by the time McManus walked to the crease at 39-5 after 15.1 overs.

Michael Carberry nicked the first ball as Chris Rushworth completed a rare hat-trick spanning three overs and two innings (Hampshire were also the opposiiton when the feat was last achieved in England, by Leicestershire's Tony Lock in 1967).

Rushworth, the country’s leading wicket-taker, also accounted for Liam Dawson (20) and James Vince (0) during an excellent opening spell (9-3-23-3) to finish with match figures of 9-78.

When Will Smith became the third member of Hampshire’s top five to go for a duck, 20 year-old McManus showed the composure of a gnarled veteran.

He shared in a sixth-wicket stand of 43 before Joe Gatting (32) became the third of four lbw victims for off-spinner Ryan Pringle (5-63), to a ball that kept very low, in the first over after an early tea.

Gareth Berg made a 28-ball 36 before more rain arrived (Hampshire were fortunate to lose nine overs to the weather).

When James Tomlinson departed, the two home debutants saw off the last 32 balls while surrounded by close fielders. The last was clipped for four, by McManus against Rushworth. “To reach 50 was a bonus,” he said.

Hampshire have closed the gap at the foot of the table to 18 points on second-from-bottom Sussex, who were thrashed by Notts.

With five games to play they are 21 adrift of Worcestershire, who occupy the nearest safety spot after a seven-wicket loss to Yorkshire.