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This season Sussex have the unique distinction of only having been involved in County Championship matches that have ended positively. Following their mauling of Cardiff UCCE at the beginning of term, the seasiders narrowly lost at Lord’s before overwhelming Kent and Nottinghamshire at home. Sandwiched in-between the last two was a disappointing defeat at the hands of Warwickshire where, chasing a target of 341, Sussex were bowled out for just 106. The secret for Surrey achieving success against Chris Adams’s men will be taming seamer James Kirtley and leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed. Between them the pair have taken 53 of the 73 wickets to fall to a Sussex bowler in the championship this summer. Only Somerset’s Nixon McLean has bowled more overs in first-class cricket this season than Mushtaq, who must have hoped, when he joined Sussex, that he would have been partnered in the spin department by Mark Davis. Alas, Davis has played just twice, taking two wickets at average of 93.00. With the bat, Murray Goodwin’s 96 in 228 minutes against Kent showed rare battling qualities and was pivotal in terms of the eventual result. Apart from that, the Sussex middle and lower order has often followed the lead shown by numbers one to four. The only exception has been Adams, who has struggled regardless of how those around him have fared. The two men in competition with each other for the wicketkeeper's gloves, Matt Prior and Tim Ambrose, are currently Sussex's leading run-maker's in this summer's championship. Graham Thorpe needs eighteen more runs to reach 1,000 career against Sussex. Apart from him, Alistair Brown is the only other batsmen in Surrey's ranks for this match to have previously made a championship century against the seasiders for the Oval outfit. Surrey's spin duo of Saqlain Mushtaq and Ian Salisbury have excellent records against Sussex and every time they have appeared against them in four-day cricket, Adam Hollioake's men have been victorious.
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