NOT so long ago, Liam Dawson could not get in the Hampshire side.

Now he's the first name on the team sheet.

One win from Hampshire’s remaining two group games will surely be enough to secure their place in the Royal London One-Day Cup quarter-finals after another outstanding all-round performance from Dawson last night.

The 25 year-old inspired another thrilling win with 67 and 3-34 from seven overs as Hampshire won a rain-affected match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston by 23 runs (D/L).

It was the perfect response to their mauling by Essex at the Ageas Bowl the previous night.

Hampshire compiled a meaty 280-7, built around a century stand by Dawson (67 from 94 balls) and Will Smith (65 from 64).

The night after putting on 124 for the sixth wicket, they shared 123 for the fifth on the same track used for the third Ashes Test.

Hampshire then reduced the home side to 4-2 and those early wickets proved crucial by cranking the Duckworth/Lewis equation right up when rain came.

Facing a thrice-amended target of 208 from 31 overs, Warwickshire, resuming on 101-2 from 26.1, had to go for broke. Dawson took full advantage.

Having lost the toss, Hampshire raced to a run-a-ball 50 thanks to Michael Carberry’s 33 (22 balls) .

After Adam Wheater was run out by William Porterfield’s direct hit, Oliver Hannon-Dalby, fresh from taking 5-27 against Glamorgan on Monday, collected his seventh wicket in three days with a superb leg-cutter edged by James Vince (16).

When Jimmy Adams (41) fell, Hampshire were 94-4. But Dawson, with his third half-century in four RLC innings, batted for 22 overs with Smith before both were caught in the deep.

Gareth Berg (26) and Chris Wood (21) added useful late runs to leave Warwickshire a tough target. It looked even tougher when Wood had Porterfield caught at point and Jonathan Trott lbw, offering no stroke, with the second and third balls of his first over.

Varun Chopra and Ambrose added 77 in 14 overs before the latter ran himself out for a run-a-ball 51.

A succession of showers saw the target tweaked and retweaked after which Warwickshire simply had to take too many risks.

Hampshire bowling: Yasir Arafat 6-1-22-1, Wood 6-1-43-2, Berg 5-0-21-0, Briggs 5-0 37-0, Dawson 7-0-34-3, Crane 2-0-18-0.