Hanging by a Thread - Why Friday Could Cap Terrible Week for Hampshire

But this week represents the nadir of a campaign that now looks almost certain to finish with the club losing its Division One status for the first time since 2011.

Hampshire finished day two a distant 324 runs behind Warwickshire.

Elsewhere, Surrey fought back against Yorkshire to put themselves in pole position at the Oval.

A win for the Brown Caps would see Hampshire cut adrift at the foot of the table, regardless of what happens in Leicestershire's current game against Nottinghamshire.

Given Russell Domingo's side head to Trent Bridge to take on the reigning champions next week, life is unlikely to be looking up anytime soon.

It has been a very difficult week at the Utilita.

It's rarely a good thing for a county to be trending on Twitter, as Hampshire have found to their cost in recent days.

The ill-judged decision to sign New Zealander, Scott Kuggeleijn - who flew back to New Zealand today after his ill-fated and brief South Coast stay - thrust Hampshire onto the back pages.

And if they hoped that events on the pitch would help re-focus attention, then they've been sorely disappointed.

Hampshire fought back well in the afternoon session.

Warwickshire slipped from 269 for 3 to 398 all out, as Kyle Abbott continued his extraordinary season by taking 4 for 51.

Andrew Neal fought back from a disappointing opening day and finished with 3 for 109.

Then it was more of the same, as Hampshire's top order subsided.

By the close the hosts were 74 for six, with only Ben Brown and Andrew Neal standing between the Bear and a mighty first innings lead.

Hampshire had started brightly, finding themselves 50 for 1 after 11 overs in their response.

"To be six down at the close is a tough one to take," says Hampshire's batting coach, Jimmy Adams.

"We were obviously up against a decent attack and a Test spinner (in the form of Manav Suthar) with the ball turning more than expected - it wasn't easy but we should have been able to negotiate our way to stumps with less damage.

"We need to stay calm versus the spin tomorrow and be decisive with our decision-making.

"We've got a decent hill to climb to claw our way back into the game. It's going to be a tough few days."

They seem to be coming thick at fast at present.