Carl Hopkinson and Murray Goodwin both hit nineties as Sussex reached 318 for five on day two. The Surrey bowlers worked tirelessly for little reward as Sussex made use of a good batting track at Hove.

Surrey captain Mark Butcher won the toss and elected to field on the start of day two at Hove. The sun was shining and Butcher wanted to make use of any dampness that might have been in the pitch. With an unchanged bowling attack from the match against Durham, Surrey bowled tight and disciplined to begin with. The ball was not swinging for Pedro Collins or James Ormond and the Sussex openers, Chris Nash and Carl Hopkinson, played patiently. Sussex reached 67 for no loss after 20 overs, as Nash and Hopkinson were both very watchful and left the ball well against the surrey seam attack. The pitch was offering little in the way of movement, but still enough to keep the batsmen thinking. The Surrey bowlers did not offer much in the way of scoring opportunities, yet at the same time it could be said that they were not making the batsmen play as much as they would have liked. Saqlain Mushtaq was brought on, but he did not find the pitch conducive to spin as Sussex moved onto 87 for no wicket. Then Surrey got a good slice of fortune as Collins made the breakthrough in the final over before lunch. Nash went back to pull, but only managed to edge the ball down onto his stumps. Nash gone for 46 leaving Sussex 87 for one at lunch.

The afternoon session saw only one wicket fall as batting looked to get easier. The Surrey bowlers were very disciplined to control the scoring rate, however they only managed the one wicket, that of Michael Yardy. The left-hander was caught at slip by Butcher off the bowling of Saqlain for 12. There was a moment when Yardy refused to walk, but once both umpires consulted the Sussex batsman had to go. The rest of the afternoon was filled by a partnership between Hopkinson and Murray Goodwin as they looked untroubled and moved Sussex onto 193 for two at tea.

The pairing of Hopkinson and Goodwin continued to look solid after the tea interval and had taken their third wicket partnership past 100 as the Surrey bowlers began to tire. When they had reached 129 together and with Hopkinson on 97, the Sussex opener lost his wicket. Hopkinson tried to take advantage of Usman Afzaal’s flight and go down the ground only to hit it straight back to Usman, who took the catch, Sussex 246 for three. Chris Adams came in and scored positively as he was fed some wide bowling. He moved quickly on to 28 before the new ball did the trick as Pedro Collins trapped him LBW. All the while Goodwin looked at ease and played himself flawlessly into the nineties. However, he was the second man to fall so close to a hundred as Matthew Nicholson was rewarded for some persistent bowling. A fine edge through to Jonathan Batty saw Goodwin go for 98, the score was 315 for five. The final session was good for Surrey who worked tirelessly in the field. Sussex closed on 318 for five.

Watch all the action from Hove on Surrey TV.

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