SUSSEX DUMP SURREY IN THE RELEGATION ZONE by Trevor Jones
Sussex 378 & 125-5 v Surrey 248 & 254. Sussex win by 5 wickets.

Having started the match with an outside chance of winning the title, Surrey ended it - a day early - knowing that they faced a battle to preserve their first division status in the Frizzell County Championship. A dispiriting second-innings batting collapse from 230-5 to 254 all out by the visitors enabled Sussex to record a five-wicket victory at 5.56pm that kept alive their own Championship-winning aspirations.

The day hadn't started too promisingly for Surrey with Richard Clinton providing Luke Wright with a leading-edge catch at mid-off in the seventh over of the morning, bowled by James Kirtley, and Scott Newman falling for seventy-four ten overs later with the total advanced to ninety-five. Having led something of a charmed life, the left-hander's luck ran out when he was palpably lbw padding up to Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Kirtley's replacement at the Cromwell Road End. The key wicket was, however, that of Mark Ramprakash, who battled his way to twelve from 54 balls before being caught at first slip by Yardy off Rana shortly before lunch. It was a particularly untimely dismissal from Surrey's point of view since they had only just cleared their first-innings arrears and the Pakistani pace bowler was almost certainly just about to be withdrawn from the attack after contributing an impressive nine-over spell down the hill. Throughout the morning the batsmen had sensibly adopted a positive approach against Mushtaq Ahmed, with Rikki Clarke enjoying mixed results, twice blasting the leg-spinner for six; being badly dropped by Yardy at a deepish mid-on when he had scored twenty-six; and suffering the bizarre experience of finding the blade of his bat parting company from the handle and flying towards mid-on as he attempted a big hit on the legside.

Having gone to lunch at 151-3, Surrey's plight rapidly worsened after the restart with Jonathan Batty soon falling lbw to Robin Martin-Jenkins for the second time in the match and Alistair Brown edging a Kirtley delivery to Matt Prior three overs later. From the depths of 166-5 the visitors were rallied for a while by Clarke and Azhar Mahmood who batted positively to add sixty-four runs in thirteen overs. With the lead standing at exactly a hundred, however, umpire Jeff Evans dealt Surrey's prospects of avoiding defeat a fatal blow by failing to detect a seemingly clear inside-edge as Clarke, on seventy-five, pushed forward to Mushtaq. The resulting lbw decision signalled the beginning of the end for the visitors, with Azhar and Nayan Doshi departing to consecutive deliveries in the next over from Rana, who took four for 70. Azhar's desperate heave to leg seemed to stem from the knowledge that there was very little batting left to come, a point that was underlined when Doshi was beaten for pace and lost his off stump to the next ball. Predictably enough, Mushtaq then polished off the tail in the double-quick time, pouching a simple leading-edge catch off his own bowling to unseat Mohammad Akram and having Tim Murtagh caught at slip via bat and pad as the left-hander aimed to drive down the ground.

With Surrey dismissed for 254, their second inadequate total of the match, Sussex looked likely to cruise to a simple victory but, as is so often the case, the pursuit of a low target proved a little trickier than expected. By the time tea arrived, the home side were wobbling somewhat at 33-4 with Carl Hopkinson, Richard Montgomerie, Murray Goodwin and Chris Adams all back in the hutch, courtesy of some fine bowling by Azhar, Akram and Murtagh. Sussex adopted a much more positive approach after the break, however, as Matt Prior struck four early boundaries off Murtagh and Doshi, who was surprisingly given the ball ahead of Azhar. Although he had a couple of scares along the way, Prior reeled off some excellent strokes in the process of battering Doshi out of the attack and then smashed the unfortunate Jade Dernbach for eighteen runs in an over as he raced to a sensational fifty that took his side within touching distance of victory. Although Akram trapped Yardy lbw with the score on 115, Prior - who made an unbeaten 66 - soon saw Sussex home by five wickets and dumped Surrey in the relegation zone.

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