Sussex's Chris Nash and Carl Hopkinson held firm for 43 overs to deny what for Surrey would have been their first championship win of the season. When the fourth wicket pair came together the Brown Caps' tails were up thanks a double strike by Alex Tudor, which had reduced the visitors to 31-3. But Nash and Hopkinson had only one intention and that was to dig in.

Having been set a target of 299 in a minimum of 62 overs, Sussex lost Michael Yardy in the ninth over when he cut Matt Nicholson to point. But Surrey's hopes of victory were given a huge boost when Tudor removed Michael Thornely and Murray Goodwin with his first and third deliveries.

Thornely, who went caught behind, was undone by a touch of extra bounce. Two balls later, Goodwin got an inside edge on to his left pad and the ball looped up conveniently to Stuart Meaker at short leg.

At tea, with the visitors 62-3, only two results were possible. The most likely of those was the draw, which Nash and Hopkinson secured with an unbeaten stand of 123, which only looked under threat when Nash, on 67, drove Saqlain Mushtaq to mid-off five overs from the end.

In the 40th over Hopkinson cut Jade Dernbach for four to register only his second boundary in 92 balls. Nash then survived a stumping chance when a lifting delivery from Murtaza Hussain beat everything to go for four byes. But in the 42nd over Nash went past fifty for only the third time in this season's championship when he cracked Dernbach straight down the ground for four. The 25-year-old's fifty came off 107 balls, and included six boundaries.

Earlier, after losing four wickets in the opening nine overs, Surrey were soon forced to regroup rather than give thought to the optimum time for the declaration. First to go was Jonathan Batty, caught at slip off Ollie Rayner. James Benning went next ball and in the following over Mark Ramprakash flicked Robin Martin-Jenkins to mid-wicket.

In the 34th over, Tudor, looking to cut, failed to get on top of a ball from Rayner and was taken at slip via the wicketkeeper's right glove. But then Nicholson and Usman Afzaal settled things down by adding an assured 42 in thirteen overs for the sixth wicket, which included a huge six over mid-wicket when Nicholson picked up Rayner in the 44th over.

At 12.30pm, Yardy, the Sussex captain, eventually took the field. At the end of the over it was announced that he had just become a father for the second time, and in the very next the ball found him when Nicholson pulled Rory Hamilton-Brown to wide mid-on.

At lunch Surrey were 278 ahead with 68 overs remaining and all the talk in the pavilion was all about whether the Brown Caps should declare during the interval. They chose not to and after lunch put on a further 20 in as many minutes off just four overs as a fox, which was more interested in preening itself in the sunshine as it sat just in front of Block 18 of the OCS Stand, watched on.

Saqlain flat-batted Martin-Jenkins straight down the ground for six. When Surrey declared, Afzaal, who batted with his left elbow heavily strapped, finished with an unbeaten 37 off 57 balls, which included a six over long-on in what proved to be the final over of Surrey's second dig.

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