Seam rules by the sea

Billy Taylor traps Ian Ward lbw

County Championship, D1, day one of four, Hove: Sussex 139-7 v Surrey 193

Match Scorecard

Bowlers dominated the day at Hove with 17 wickets falling in the match between Sussex and Surrey.

On a friendly pitch Sussex took full advantage bowling Surrey out for a lowly 193.

None of the visitors' top-order was able to make capitalise on some good starts with Ali Brown the pick of the bunch with 49.

James Kirtley, in his first championship game since breaking his hand during the NatWest series, took three top-order wickets, to finish with figures of three for 49.

However, it was all-rounder Kevin Innes who mopped up the tail, picking up his new first-class best figures of four for 41 in the process.

Sussex's joy was shortlived as the strong Surrey seam attack got to work on their batting.

Both openers were dismissed cheaply before Tony Cottey and Chris Adams put on a partnership of 54 for the third wicket.

Cottey in particular decided to go for his shots taking 37 balls over his 35 before being run out.

After that Sussex's batsmen too managed to get starts without going on to big scores.

However, they did manage to get up to 112 for four, but a sudden collapse put them right back under pressure.

Alex Tudor accounted for Tim Ambrose (25) and Matt Prior (0) with Tim Murtagh dismissing Robin Martin-Jenkins (21) in between.

That left the hosts on 112 for seven before Mark Davis and Innes managed to steer their team to the close without any further loss on 139 for seven.

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Sussex: R R Montgomerie, M W Goodwin, P A Cottey, C J Adams (Capt), T R Ambrose, R S C Martin-Jenkins, M J Prior (Wkt), K J Innes, M J G Davis, R J Kirtley, B V Taylor.

Surrey: I J Ward, A D Brown, M R Ramprakash, R Clarke, N Shahid, A J Hollioake (Capt), J N Batty (Wkt), A J Tudor, T J Murtagh Mushtaq Ahmed, E S H Giddins.

Umpires: R Palmer and P Willey