Surrey had Scott Newman and the loss of day three to thank for not opening their County Championship account with a crushing defeat at the hands of the reigning champions Sussex. Former Oval favourite Ian Ward may have made an attractive 82, but given the spot Newman found himself in when he came to the crease yesterday it was the man that has now replaced Ward who made the most decisive contribution with an eighty of his own.

With the home side 189 behind on first innings and needing to bat out a minimum of 82 overs, the 24-year-old left hander, forced to come in at number seven after leaving the field with a pulled hamstring during Sussex’s first innings, entered with the score at 79 for five. That soon became 88 for seven when three wickets fell for four runs in the space of 12 deliveries. But thanks to a partnership of 100 in 24 overs with fellow hamstring sufferer Martin Bicknell, Newman guided his team to safety with an unbeaten 86 off 129 balls. Not even Mushtaq Ahmed's 1,000th first-class wicket – a googly that bowled Bicknell – could buy Sussex enough time to pull off a well-deserved victory.

Afterwards a relieved Steve Rixon (Surrey’s new cricket manager) said: “Scotty Newman was outstanding, absolutely outstanding. He played as solid as I’ve seen him in the short time I’ve been here. He concentrated hard and watched the ball out of the hand, which is something he has been working on. He finished with eighty-odd not out, which was just desserts for a great innings and a match-saving innings.”

Surrey have not lost their opening game of the season since 1990, but Rixon felt that the visitors had done themselves few favours tactically, questioning their decision to bat on yesterday morning. He said: “I’m still trying to relate to a couple of their decisions. I struggle to relate to them allowing us an extra bowling point, but especially today, first up, the wicket had taken a lot of rain overnight and there should have been a little bit of juice in it, they might have cracked us early and it’s come back to bite them on the backside.”

Resuming on 445 for nine, Sussex’s last wicket pair, Jason Lewry and Mohammad Akram, added a further 48 in the space of 11.4 overs. Both posted career bests in a stand that realised 87, a club record for the last wicket against Surrey.

Makeshift opener Ian Salisbury had his off stump uprooted by Mohammad just before lunch and, soon after the break, his opening partner Jonathan Batty went when he was pinned lbw on the back foot by Martin-Jenkins, who bowled 16 consecutive overs from the Pavilion End and, once again, was the pick of the visitors’ attack.

James Benning edged behind off Lewry before Alistair Brown was undone by a vicious rearing delivery and Mark Ramprakash fell leg before. Next to go was Adam Hollioake who flashed and was taken head-high at second slip. Surrey’s first-innings saviour Azhar Mahmood could not repeat the dose, falling instead without scoring when he edged an attempted drive on to his stumps, which left the Oval outfit at sixes and sevens.

As it was they had numbers seven and nine to thank, especially Newman, who plundered a total of 16 boundaries and at one stage took a particular liking to Mohammad Akram, off whom he struck the six that ended any realistic chance Sussex had of forcing a result. At 5.45pm, with five overs remaining and Surrey 66 runs ahead the two sides shook on a draw.

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