ALL of a sudden, there is much reason for optimism as Hampshire enter the last two months of the season.

A battling performance against Durham in the LV County Championship, followed by T20 Blast quarter-final qualification and a record total in their Royal London One-Day Cup opener means Hampshire are fighting on all three fronts.

With Fidel Edwards now available for the rest of the season, there is no reason why Hampshire cannot enjoy a special eight weeks.

There are parallels with the 2008 season in the Championship.

Midway through that summer, Hampshire looked relegation certs only for an unknown leg-spinner to turn the season on its head.

Imran Tahir’s impact was such that Hampshire went into the last game as outsiders for the title.

No-one is expecting Mason Crane to do what Tahir did seven years ago, but he has already made a similar impact.

Crane’s introduction to the first team was the catalyst for the turnaround in the T20 Blast, his debut against Somerset being the first of three wins from the last four group games.

The freshness and fight that he and Lewis McManus provided in the draw against Durham will also have given Hampshire confidence going into their next Championship match against Warwickshire at The Ageas Bowl a week on Friday.

Crucially, Hampshire now have two more wicket-taking bowlers in their armoury in leg-spinner Crane and pace ace Edwards, who is back after a ten-day rest following his Caribbean Premier League exertions.

Both will be a threat in Hampshire’s five remaining Championship matches, from which two wins may be enough to secure survival.

As well as the emergence of Crane, whose availability to Hampshire will hopefully not be affected by his England U19 call-up, the return of Liam Dawson from his Essex loan has lifted spirits.

Dawson was outstanding in the One-Day Cup win against Sussex and with Edwards back there is no reason why Hampshire cannot emulate their 50-over campaign of 2009, when they won the old Friends Provident Trophy.

Seven weeks after his last Hampshire appearance – a T20 Blast win against Kent at Canterbury - the West Indian will be hoping to inspire a similar result against a Kent side determined to bounce back from losing their opening game, a last-over thriller against Glamorgan at Cardiff last night.