Hove

(day two of four)

Sussex 318-5 (MW Goodwin 98, CD Hopkinson 97) v Surrey

Lunch

On a sunny, fresh morning, Surrey elected to field first, reasoning that, in a match reduced to a three-day affair, their best hope of forcing victory was to capitalize on any early moisture in the pitch. There was not, however, the seam movement they hoped for. Although the bat was beaten on a number of occasions, batting did not prove overly troublesome on a slow surface.

Chris Nash, when 11, was fortunate that an inside edge off Pedro Collins shaved his off stump before racing down the hill to the fine leg boundary for four. An emphatic pull off Jimmy Ormond was his best stroke of the morning, but in trying to repeat the same stroke in the last over before lunch, he was bowled off a bottom edge by Collins.

Close

Surrey fought back well in the final session to claim three Sussex wickets, two of them when they took the second new ball. First to go was Carl Hopkinson who, after five hours of occupying the crease, fell for 97 from 240 balls, a career best. He fell when he went down the pitch to Usman Afzaal’s left arm spin and gave a return catch. That ended a partnership of 129 in 34 overs with Murray Goodwin.

The former Zimbabwe batsman also fell agonisingly short of his century, being caught behind for 98 off Matt Nicholson. Chris Adams became a second victim for Pedro Collins when he was leg before.