Read the latest Second Eleven Championship match report from their game against Sussex at Hove

Sussex Captain Tom Smith won the toss at the County Ground at Hove and chose to make first use of a re-laid pitch which proved to be slow throughout the game.

The Sussex opening pair of Smith and Beeny proceeded steadily to 80-1 when Smith fell lbw to Murtaza Hussain. His place was taken by Rory Hamilton-Brown who helped Beeny add 104 for the second wicket. At lunch Sussex were 105-1. Hamilton-Brown was out, bowled by Lee Hodgson, in the 56th over for 50 from 103 balls with two sixes and six fours.

The spin attack of Matthew Spriegel and Simon King then accounted for three quick wickets in the afternoon session but Sussex advanced to 227-5, mainly due to a patient 91 from 173 balls by Beeny. A further stand of 92 between Andy Hodd (62) and J Theron (59) for the eighth wicket took Sussex to 334-7 overnight.

Choosing to continue the innings on the second morning Sussex were all out for 354. Tim Linley took 3-51 in 19 overs and Matthew Spriegel 3-23 in 14 for Surrey and Murtaza Hussain bowled 26.5 economical overs to finish with 2-66.

The Surrey innings opened with the loss of Spriegel, lbw to James Kirtley, in the second over. Laurie Evans and James Benning also went cheaply and Surrey came into lunch with the scoreboard reading 50-3.

Chris Murtagh and Arun Harinath then buckled down to rescue Surrey with a stand of 138 for the fourth wicket before Murtagh was bowled by Rollins for 81. With eleven fours his innings had lasted 195 balls and nearly four and a half hours. Harinath scored 69 but was caught at the wicket by Andy Hodd for an equally defiant innings from 194 balls. Gary Wilson added 57 and Surrey were all out for 280 as James Kirtley picked up the last three wickets for 16 runs to take his tally for the innings to 5-60.

Sussex batted again after lunch on the third day. Beeny (66) and Smith (56) put on another big opening stand of 126 but the game fizzled out into a dead draw with Sussex 179-2 at the close. Sussex took 10 points and Surrey 9.

Report by Surrey Second Eleven scorer, Jennifer Booth

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