Hove

(day three of four)

Sussex 475; Surrey 164 for 2 (S A Newman 68, M R Ramprakash 66 not out)

Lunch

Matt Prior has certainly begun the new season with a dash, following his winter rejection by England. His fourth score above 50 in six first-class innings took Sussex to maximum batting points in the pre-lunch session at Hove.

The loss of the entire first day has probably consigned this match to a draw, but Prior hardly needed the added motivation of the presence of Geoff Miller, the England chairman of selectors, when he began the day on 16 in a Sussex total of 318 for 5.

Driving fluently, and cutting Usman Afzaal’s left-arm spin for one of his seven boundaries, he reached 50 from 68 balls – only to fall four balls later for 51. His annoyance was audible as he skied a pull at a short ball from Chris Jordan, and was caught in the gully, but he now has 329 runs at 54.83 already this season.

James Kirtley, the nightwatchman, missed a sweep at Saqlain in the next over but Luke Wright and Robin Martin-Jenkins had added a further 42 by lunch.

Tea

Robin Martin-Jenkins followed up an unbeaten half-century with a new ball strike as Sussex continued to hold the upper hand in the session between lunch and tea.

Martin-Jenkins finished on 53 not out from 82 balls as Sussex, put in by Surrey after the loss of the entire first day, were eventually bowled out for 475. Then, as he and Jason Lewry bowled unchanged for an hour before tea, Martin-Jenkins nipped one back at Jon Batty to have him lbw for 17.

The match looks certain to end in a draw, but Sussex were clearly in no mood to let Surrey back into the contest, batting on from yesterday’s 318 for 5 with Matt Prior initially converting his overnight 16 into 51 – his fourth score above fifty in six first-class innings so far this season.

Prior and James Kirtley added 58 before Prior skied a pull, and Martin-Jenkins was joined in stands of 55 and 47 by Luke Wright and Ollie Rayner.

Close

With this match destined for the draw, most interest in tomorrow's final day will centre on Mark Ramprakash, who is 34 runs away from his 99th first-class hundred.

The remarkable Ramprakash, who has averaged more than 100 and scored more than 2,000 first-class runs in each of the last two seasons, will see this as a golden opportunity on a placid pitch and with Sussex missing the injured Mushtaq Ahmed.

Predictably, after being put in following Wednesday's wash out and without their matchwinner, Sussex were happy merely to make sure of maximum batting points and Surrey will no doubt aim for the same tomorrow.

Robin Martin-Jenkins was rewarded for two fine spells with the wickets of both Jon Batty and Scott Newman, who hit 68 in a stand of 106 with Ramprakash, but conditions for batting remain good and Ramprakash's hunger for runs shows no sign of dissipating.

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