IT is 44 years since Hampshire last won the County Championship, but with what looks their strongest squad for a decade in place they have raised hopes of a challenge at the top end of the table.

After finishing in the bottom three for the last two seasons many expect Hampshire to be involved in another relegation scrap.

It needed the Great Escape of 2015 to prevent an immediate return to the second division and Hampshire were even more fortunate last season when, after finishing in the bottom two following defeat at home to Durham in the final game, they were given their controversial reprieve at the cash-strapped north-east county’s expense.

But the difference between success and failure in the eight-team first division is a fine line.

Here are five reasons why Hampshire can be serious Championship challengers this season.

MICHAEL CARBERRY’S RECOVERY

The spirit shown by Hampshire’s opening batsman is remarkable, even by his standards, and should inspire his teammates this season.

Overcoming the challenges he faced when blood clots were discovered on his lungs in 2010 was impressive enough.

But to be available for the start of the season eight months after his cancer diagnosis is nothing short of incredible.

That alone should inspire every other member of Hampshire’s squad, who must have wondered whether Carberry’s career was over when he told them of his cancer diagnosis last July.

Hampshire’s players responded to that news by beating Glamorgan, before dedicating one of their few T20 wins last season to their stricken teammate.

The courage Carberry has shown over the last nine months could be the catalyst for rather more. 

If he can win his battle against cancer, surely Hampshire can win a few more cricket matches.

Carberry’s pre-season form (a century and three half-centuries in Barbados before his 107 in the first-class opener against Cardiff MCCU last week) indicates he will be a key player once again.

But it is the way he has overcome adversity that could inspire Hampshire’s players most.

That is harder to quantify than weight of runs, but Hampshire’s players will only need to see Carberry alongside them to raise their game when the going gets tough. That alone should turn draws into wins.

A TOP-CLASS SEAM ATTACK

Last season Hampshire finished with the lowest number of bowling points in the first division, but Kyle Abbott, Fidel Edwards and Reece Topley has the potential to be a Championship-winning seam triumvirate.

Perhaps we should not get too excited as we all know what happened when we raved about the prospect of Edwards sharing the new ball with Topley last season (injuries meant they only played three matches between them).

The skiddy pace of Edwards allied with the height and left-arm angle provided by Topley is a match-winning combination.

Now their youth and experience has been supplemented by Abbott, a bowler at the peak of his powers after walking away from his South Africa career at the age of 29.

These are big ifs but if Topley stays fit, if Edwards bowls like he did in 2015 and if Abbott reproduces his 2014 form, Hampshire have a seam attack to die for.

It has the potential to be as effective as any three-pronged attack in the country.

Middlesex trio Toby Roland-Jones (54) Tim Murtagh (43) and Steven Finn (31) took 125 wickets between them for last year’s county champions, while Jack Brooks (65) Steve Patterson (45) and Ryan Sidebottom (45) claimed a magnificent 155 as Yorkshire won the 2015 title.

The first division has been reduced to eight teams this season, with 14 games per county instead of 16.

But Abbott, Edwards and Topley are well capable of 100-plus wickets between them.

Even if Topley only plays half the games there is plenty of seam back-up in the form of the ever-improving Brad Wheal, Gareth Berg and fit-again all-rounders Ryan Stevenson and Chris Wood.

MASON CRANE

If Hampshire are going to challenge for the County Championship anytime soon, their best chance will be before their leg-spin prodigy is an England player.

Crane will be centrally contracted at some point in the next few years. At the rate he is progressing, this may well be the last season Hampshire have him to themselves.

It is no coincidence that Hampshire’s highest Championship finishes of recent years have been when they have had a world-class leg-spinner in their ranks.

In 2005 Shane Warne led Hampshire to second place when he was not producing the Ashes performances that inspired Crane to take up leg-spin at the age of eight.

Three years later, Imran Tahir’s first season with the county ended in a third-place finish.

If Crane is not yet in that bracket, he is not far off after a winter of wizardry in Australia that culminated in him becoming New South Wales’ first overseas player since Imran Khan in 1984/85.

The hype increased with his sensational recent spell of 4-39 for the South against the North and his four-wicket salvo for the MCC against county champions Middlesex in the UAE last week.

Early-season conditions are likely to ensure he does not play in Hampshire’s first few games, which include Middlesex’s visit for the opening home game over the Easter weekend.

But to say will be a key player in mid-summer, when conditions will be in his favour, is a huge understatement.

When Crane is bowling alongside the likes of Abbott, Edwards and Topley, Hampshire will have an attack that looks more than capable of bowling counties out twice.

BATTING DEPTH

For many years Hampshire have struggled to post enough first-innings runs to be competitive.

But with George Bailey and Rilee Rossouw added to the top five, selecting the batting line-up is going to leave director of cricket Giles White and head coach Craig White reaching for the Ibuprofen at some selection meetings this season. A nice problem to have etc.

A classy left-hander, Rossouw could start the season as one of four southpaws in Hampshire’s top six.

He is best known as a white-ball player. But he scored a triple century in the Super Sport series, South Africa’s County Championship equivalent - at the age of 20 and 231 against Australia A in 2014.

Bailey is also best known for his limited-overs achievements but has just had the best first-class season of his career with Tasmania (839 runs at 59.92). His captaincy will also give Hampshire a fresh dimension.

Even without Rossouw and Bailey, Hampshire’s batting resources are stronger than they were last season.

With James Vince available after dropping out of the Test squad and Michael Carberry well again, they have two former England batsmen high on motivation.

Sean Ervine produced the best Championship form of his Hampshire career last season, while Liam Dawson is approaching his prime.

Jimmy Adams and Will Smith will provide no shortage of experience when called upon, while England Lion Tom Alsop is one to watch after scoring his maiden first-class century last September.

Hampshire’s batting now has such strength in depth that homegrown opener Joe Weatherley has gone on loan to Kent, at his own request.

457 INTERNATIONAL CAPS

First-division matches will be played with more intensity than ever this season, now that the County Championship’s top flight has been streamlined into an eight-team, 14-match competition.

So it bodes well that so many of the Hampshire team have played the game at the highest level.

Eight of the team likely to play Yorkshire on Friday have played international cricket.

When George Bailey is available, Hampshire will have up to nine players with Tests or one-day international experience.

Carberry (13), Rossouw (51), Vince (17), Ervine (47), Dawson (4), Abbott (60), Edwards (125) and Topley (16) have 333 caps between them in all formats.

When Bailey arrives that total will rise to 457.

On paper, it is probably the best Hampshire squad since the class of 2005 - which included Shane Warne, Kevin Pietersen, Simon Katich, Nic Pothas, John Crawley, Chris Tremlett, Shaun Udal and Ervine – finished as Championship runners-up.

Topley and Rossouw are the only ones of the current crop not to have played Test cricket but, crucially, none of the aforementioned are likely to play any Tests this summer.

Dawson could miss up to five Championship matches because of his limited-overs England commitments, which is likely to include series against Ireland and South Africa in May, the Champions Trophy in June and the ODI series against West Indies at the end of the season.

Vince may yet earn an England recall in the white-ball formats but, at this stage, neither of them is likely to be on Test duty against South Africa and the Windies.

Bailey may well be available for most of the season too. His wedding means he will not play in the first three Championship matches but it is doubtful whether he will be called up for the Champions Trophy, having not played in Australia’s last two ODI series or their last T20 series.