Murray Goodwin and Matt Prior gave a packed crowd of more than 6,000 a tantalising glimpse of what might have been by sharing a third-wicket stand of 117 in 12 overs to power Sussex to victory and leave Surrey at the foot of the South division with only one win from seven matches.

Sussex have won only two themselves and have only a mathematical chance of reaching the quarter-finals but it was hard to understand as Goodwin, who hit 79 off 46 balls including two sixes and nine fours, and Prior, who made 56 off 37 balls with a six and eight fours, put Surrey to the sword.

Surrey had started well enough with Alistair Brown, back to his brutal best with 51 off 21 balls, including a six and 10 fours, and Mark Ramprakash putting on 84 in eight overs for the second wicket but they fell away badly once Brown had been bowled by Dwayne Smith.

Ramprakash, who had given him brisk support with 33 off 31 balls, was run out two overs later in a mix-up with Usman Afzaal and after making 102 off their first 10 overs Surrey managed only 62 off the last 10.

At least they had posted a competitive total and Jade Dernbach raised their hopes by having Chris Nash caught behind off his second ball and Chris Adams well held by Gary Wilson, the Ireland wicketkeeper, running towards fine leg when he top-edged an attempted pull.

Goodwin had already carved Pedro Collins over backward point for six in his first over and he was in complete command with his trademark cuts and pulls. Another six soon followed over midwicket and into the pavilion off Abdul Razzaq.

Prior, playing as a batsman with Andrew Hodd keeping wicket, had been having a lean time in the competition but he was back to form with some blazing strokes all round the wicket and it looked as though the third wicket pair would win the match off their own bats until Prior drove Dernbach to long-on and was well caught by Chris Jordan.

Dernbach was not giving up without a fight and struck Michael Yardy a clanging blow on the helmet but Sussex still got home with 16 balls to spare.

Scoreboard

Surrey
S A Newman c Kirtley b Martin-Jenkins 5
A D Brown b Smith 51
*M R Ramprakash run out 33
U Afzaal run out 38
Abdul Razzaq c Nash b Liddle 12
†G C Wilson st Hodd b Yardy 0
M N W Spriegel not out 8
C J Jordan run out 1
J W Dernbach b Liddle 0
C P Schofield not out 5
Extras (lb 7, w 2, nb 2) 11

Total (8 wkts, 20 overs) 164

P T Collins did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-90, 3-110, 4-144, 5-150, 6-150, 7-152, 8-152.

Bowling: Martin-Jenkins 3-0-17-1; Kirtley 3-0-40-0; Liddle 4-0-31-2; Yardy 4-1-24-1; Smith 4-0-29-1; Hamilton-Brown 2-0-16-0.

Sussex
C D Nash c Wilson b Dernbach 0
M W Goodwin not out 79
*C J Adams c Wilson b Dernbach 6
M J Prior c Jordan b Dernbach 56
D R Smith b Afzaal 10
M H Yardy not out 7
Extras (b 2, lb 2, w 3) 7

Total (4 wkts, 17.2 overs) 165

†A J Hodd, R J Hamilton-Brown, R S C Martin-Jenkins, C J Liddle and R J Kirtley did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-28, 3-145, 4-156.

Bowling: Dernbach 4-0-32-3; Collins 3-0-29-0; Razzaq 2-0-22-0; Spriegel 1-0-11-0; Jordan 3-0-29-0; Schofield 2-0-23-0; Afzaal 2.2-0-15-1.

Umpires: N L Bainton and V A Holder.