On Wednesday night Nadeem Shahid and Mark Ramprakash led Surrey to victory under the lights at Hove.  Their fourth wicket partnership of 131 in 23 overs came after the Lions had declined to 25 for three. Just as significantly the result, which was achieved with 34 balls to spare, also ended a sequence of three one-day defeats in four days for the Oval outfit.

By the end of the eleventh over the visitors were in a similar position to the one they found themselves in at Whitgift the previous day. For Ian Ward the sense of déjà vu was heightened when he was adjudged leg before for the fourth time in as many innings after Alistair Brown had gone, first ball, to a brilliant catch at second slip.

James Kirtley, in action for Sussex for the first time since 15 June, was the beneficiary on both occasions. But shortly after the 27-year-old was rested with figures of two for six in five overs, the Lions found the task of making runs far less exacting.

Kevin Innes was unable to repeat with the ball what he had earlier accomplished with the bat while Billy Taylor, often such an influential bowler in the short game, failed to make the required breakthrough until Shahid and Ramprakash had put the result beyond doubt.

When Mark Ramprakash skied Taylor to mid-off, the Surrey pair were just one run short of setting a club record for any wicket against Sussex in the National League. Nadeem Shahid, who struck 74 off 94 balls, went on to make his best one-day score of the season before Adam Hollioake stepped up confidently to hit the winning runs.

Earlier in proceedings Ed Giddins had added the first four wickets to the five he took in the corresponding fixture at the AMP Oval. Richard Montgomerie was the first to go, taken low down at square leg. Murray Goodwin was then caught off a thin outside edge before Tony Cottey and Matt Prior went to successive deliveries, the latter shouldering arms and losing his off stump.

With Robin Martin-Jenkins going to a flat-batted pull to mid-on, it seemed as if only Chris Adams would be capable of taming the Lions attack. The Sharks’ captain batted boldly, reaching his half-century in 67 balls by pulling Tim Murtagh for six then driving the 21-year-old seamer imperiously through mid-off.

When Alex Tudor captured the wickets of Ambrose and Adams in consecutive overs, one school of thought was that Surrey should have brought Giddins back and kept Rikki Clarke and Adam Hollioake up their sleeve for what overs remained.

They chose not to, however, and Kevin Innes picked up where Chris Adams had left off, announcing himself by lifting Saqlain Mushtaq for a straight six. Favouring the extra cover region Innes struck a useful fifty in 60 deliveries, adding 84 in 14 overs with Mark Davis including 39 off the last four.

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