The Rose Bowl outfit went down to a depressing six-wicket defeat to Nottinghamshire yesterday to slip into the Championship division one relegation zone.

That followed their failure to reach the quarter-finals on the Twenty20 Cup last Friday.

With an eight-day break before they face Lancashire, though, Hampshire coach Terry will now turn his attentions to finding a new overseas star to replace the departed Shane Bond and Ian Harvey.

But he admits he doesn't yet know whether the new man will be a bowler or a batsman.

Terry said: 'We're trying to get the best available guy we can – whether it's a bowler or not, we're not sure at the moment.

'It would be nice to think we will have someone in for the next Championship game.

'Our batting has probably not been up to scratch at times so there is no guarantee it will be a bowler.

'We're looking for the right guy. He has to be better than the players we've already got here and someone that can boost us.'

Having failed in attempts to recruit Pakistan paceman Sohail Tanvir and New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori, Terry also played down reports linking Hampshire with an approach for Australian spinner Stuart MacGill.

He said: 'Pakistan have got so much on at the moment that he (Tanvir) wouldn't have been viable.

'We also tried to get Vettori, but MacGill is not someone we're after. There have been plenty of calls and hopefully in the next few days, we will have some answers.'