THE best sides intimidate by their mere presence. Whisper it in Hove, but Sussex might just have been intimidated out of the first championship in their history.

When Surrey start to strut, you know you’re in trouble. The strut began on the second evening, when Mark Ramprakash and Martin Bicknell joined forces amid the ruins of 126 for six. It continued on Friday morning as Surrey’s prolific tail reached 355. And its effects were still being felt later that day when Sussex, 143 ahead with eight wickets in hand, accepted an offer of bad light with 37 overs to go.

That was the moment they settled for the draw, and Surrey received the message loud and clear. The feeling in their dressing-room was that Sussex were scared, that the fear of defeat had outweighed the lure of victory. They were probably onto something, although the Sussex coach Peter Moores defended his side on the basis that they had competed on more than even terms with the best side in the country.

Even so, Sussex ended up with a four-point deficit instead of the 10-point lead over Surrey that victory would have brought. With five games to go, the psychological momentum has swung Surrey’s way. Perhaps they are just more savvy when it comes to operating in the rarefied atmosphere of a title chase.

After the crescendo of the first two-and-a-half days, the fourth was a disappointing piano pianissimo. Sussex resumed in scorching heat on 69 for two but showed no inclination to set an achievable target and thus breathe some life into a dying game. By the time they declared at 3.25pm on 302 for five, the target was 377 in 36 overs. Saqlain Mushtaq and Ian Salisbury showed what they thought of it all by bowling medium-pace, while Adam Hollioake produced an over of rusty leg-spin. A slow handclap began, but if the derision was aimed at Surrey, the crowd had chosen the wrong target.

For a brief moment yesterday, Surrey even had the faintest sniff of victory themselves. Murray Goodwin, who had dislocated a finger during fielding practice on Friday morning, pulled Saqlain to midwicket, where Ian Ward held an athletic catch above his head. And when Saqlain removed Chris Adams leg-before to make it 108 for four, the lead was 182 with 80 overs remaining.

But Tim Ambrose, who moved attractively to his eighth half-century of the season, added 120 with Robin Martin-Jenkins, before Matthew Prior chipped in with some late fireworks to reach 50 in 49 balls.

Surrey then reached 114 for the loss of Ian Ward. But it was all academic. If Sussex fail to win the title, they might look back at this game and wonder if things could have been different.