Half an hour before lunch on the final day of this unashamed pursuit of championship bonus points, Mark Ramprakash cut Ollie Rayner to the point boundary to reach the 99th century of his first-class career. Thoughts then turned to whether he would notch up his hundredth at Lord's, batting for England, or the Rose Bowl, batting for Surrey.

The discussion did not last long. Ramprakash, it seems, is destined to remain a former Test cricketer despite being regarded by peers and pundits alike as the best batsman in the land at this time. It is a scandal, but it does appear to worry the 38-year-old, who seems to have accepted that he will never represent his country again. How Surrey could well benefit as the season unfolds. Even without the former Middlesex man among their ranks, the Brown Caps batting line-up is bristling with talent. That the door is currently closed to the promise of James Benning speaks volumes for how daunting they must appear to opposition bowling attacks.

Apart from ducking into a short ball from Jason Lewry, which refused to get up, Ramprakash looked completely at home on a ground where he averaged 101.83 in his previous eight visits to the crease and now averages 104.85 in his last nine there.

In the nineteenth over of the day he lost his skipper, Mark Butcher, who went caught behind off Rayner, whose tall frame managed to generate some extra bounce. But normal service was resumed when Usman Afzaal drove the first ball he received to the cover boundary to bring up the visitors' first batting point.

In the 71st over, Ramprakash went on the attack by going down the pitch to Rayner, whom he clubbed for two fours. In the 73rd, the Surrey number three went to his ninth century against the Martlets and his second in this season's LV County Championship. Four overs later, however, it was all over as Rayner held on, at head height, to a vicious straight drive off his own bowling.

Ramprakash's 123 took him 245 balls and included fifteen fours. The former Middlesex man has now made the same number of first-class hundreds for both of his county employers. In terms of Surrey's rich cricketing heritage, the 38-year-old now goes past the much heralded Ernie Hayes, whose 45 hundreds took him nearly five times the number of appearances, at the beginning of the last century, to manufacture.

After lunch, Sussex took the new ball, but James Kirtley wasted it by bowling too short and Luke Wright proved expensive. In the 85th over, Wright was pulled for two consecutive fours by Afzaal, which prompted the recall of Robin Martin-Jenkins, the pick of the hosts' attack.

Brown, ever the entertainer, moved to his second fifty in three championship innings, off 65 balls, with an on driven boundary off Rayner, and brought up Surrey's fourth batting point by hitting the 22-year-old off-spinner straight down the ground for four in the 103rd over.

Afzaal was bowled through the gate looking to attack the slow left-arm spin of Michael Yardy, though not before slog sweeping the 27-year-old all-rounder for a six and a four earlier in the same over to move to 71.

At tea, the visitors were 393-5. When Chris Jordan edged Rayner inches past the outstretched hand of Chris Adams at slip in the 119th over, Mark Butcher promptly declared to deny Sussex the chance of picking up any further bonus points. That left Brown with an undefeated 76 off 129 balls, with ten fours, which he followed up with figures of 6-3-5-0 as Chris Nash and Carl Hopkinson batted out time.

Like Ramprakash, Brown has turned down the riches of the Indian Premier League, for now. With such devotion to the Surrey cause being shown, the Brown Caps must be regarded as one of the main challengers for this year's championship title - but only if the weather improves.

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