Sussex cave in to Saqlain

County Championship D1, The Oval: Surrey 480 & 233-3 dec beat Sussex 307 & 293 by 113 runs
Points: Surrey 22, Sussex 6

Match scorecard

Mahmood bowls Martin-Jenkins in a cloud of dust

A long, patient vigil by Michael Yardy was all in vain as Surrey closed out victory at The Oval in the final session of the match with Saqlain Mushtaq claiming five wickets.

After rain and bad light had hampered the champions on Sunday, Sussex still had all their second innings wickets in tact when play began on the final day.

But when Pakistani off-spinner Saqlain struck three times in a matter of minutes to reduce the visitors from to 83-1 to 85-4 victory appeared inevitable.

Then the complexion of the match altered for a while as Robin Martin-Jenkins slammed 88 off just 93 balls, briefly raising the prospect of Sussex achieving 407 to win.

But when he was yorked by Azhar Mahmood, three further wickets fell at regular intervals and Surrey were on course once again.

Mushtaq Ahmed kept the home supporters waiting with an entertaining 36 off 52 balls.

But once he was trapped lbw to become Saqlain's fifth victim, Yardy's five-and-a-quarter hour effort of 69 was ended in the next over when Jimmy Ormond removed the doughty left-hander to seal Surrey's third win of the season.

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Surrey: I J Ward, J N Batty (Wkt), M R Ramprakash, G P Thorpe, A D Brown, A J Hollioake (Capt), Azhar Mahmood, M P Bicknell, I D K Salisbury, Saqlain Mushtaq, J Ormond.

Sussex: R R Montgomerie, M W Goodwin, C J Adams (Capt), T R Ambrose, R S C Martin-Jenkins, M H Yardy, M J Prior (Wkt), K J Innes, Mushtaq Ahmed, R J Kirtley, B V Taylor.