Hampshire also broke a record with the ball when Sonny Baker became the first man in Blast history to take a five-wicket haul in an innings on finals day.

The Hawks won the toss and elected to bowl first, restricting the Steelbacks to 169 as they previously seemed likely to post a big score.

But Hampshire’s response got off to the worst possible start when opener Toby Albert was caught behind off the first ball before captain James Vince got out for 17.

After Ben Mayes, Tristan Stubbs and Hilton Cartwright failed to create a meaningful partnership with Weatherley, Liam Dawson ran into the middle and began to build something promising.

The left-arm all-rounder posted a handy 35 runs to leave Hampshire needing 32 off 20 balls, but then ran out of strikers in the non-striker’s side after delivering a dismissal single which Weatherley rejected.

Hampshire’s final four batsmen produced just five runs between them as Baker was bowled in at the end to hand the title to Northants.

“To be honest, I don’t think we played a great game in the final,” Weatherley said.

“The turnaround was very tight and I think we were a little sloppy on the field, we could have chased 170 but we just needed some partnerships.

“The wicket wasn’t easy all day, it wasn’t flat, but you could bat if you developed partnerships. “I was hitting the ball pretty well coming in and I literally just tried to help the team as best I could.

“I wanted to make it in the end and I was developing a partnership with Daws (Liam Dawson) that looked like we were going to make it, but in the end we just couldn’t get over the line.”