Sussex made it three wins out of three when they won an exciting clash against Surrey at Guildford.

They now lead the county championship table by two points from London after beating Surrey by 23 games to 21.

In a topsy-turvy match, Sussex trailed 6-4, then led 10-7 but were down again 15-11 before a run of nine wins in 12 games took them into a 20-18 lead with six to play.

The visitors won three more games, and that was enough, with Jon Sanders clinching victory in the 44th game.

Lib Vallance, who was named player of the match, was one of four Sussex players to win all three games.

The others were Paul Bailey, Paul Whearty and John Steadman, while Damian Campsey, Morray Dolan, Paul Nicholas and debut man Ryan Harper all won two.

Campsey took his tally to ten wins in 12 games, which puts him second in the individual rankings, one behind Ian Hubbard, of Kent.

The men's B team are also top of their section with three wins out of three after they won 24-20 against Surrey.

Sussex won the last three games to clinch victory after they had led 9-3 but then had to come from behind when Surrey took a 13-10 lead.

John Robinson was the top Sussex player, winning all four of his games, while Kevin Boarer won three out of four.

Clive Rayson, Nick Pearson, Doug Howard, Simon Showler, John Davidson, Ross Pintus, Dave Rogers and John Cairns all had two wins.

The Sussex youth team shared the honours in a battling 22-22 draw after they had lost the opening five games and later trailed 16-11.

Ryan Copping, Josh Ives and Blake Horgan won the last three games to level the scores.

Dean Torode won four out of four, while Ives, Horgan and Adam Bazley won three and Copping, John Cairns Jnr, Gary Taylor and Sam Franco two.

The men's C team and the ladies were both beaten, the men going down 29-15 and the women 33-11.

Matt Harvey won both his games for the C team, while Candy Wright, Katie Smith and Pauline Briggs won two out of three for the ladies.

Brighton reached the last 16 in the national inter-league finals at Great Yarmouth.

They were denied a place in the quarter-finals in a nailbiting play-off against Tolworth after the teams had finished level at 9-9.

Paul McNeil, who was un-beaten for Brighton, won his single-frame play-off, but Morray Dolan and Darren Welfare lost.

Brighton had earlier fought back from 5-2 to lead 7-6, but when Tolworth led 9-7 Pete Ashman and Mark Proto had to win the last two games to rescue Brighton.

Unluckiest player was Paul Nicholas, who did not have a single shot in two games as his opponents cleared up from the break.

Brighton had previously de-feated Wolverhampton 10-7 and before that beaten Cherry House (Notts) 11-7 and Walsall 8-5 in the round robin stages.

McNeil won all eight games which he played.

Crawley went out 10-4 to Rochdale in the last 32 . Lib Vallance won four out of five.

Brighton B and Hastings both failed to get past the qualifying stages.

RESULTS: COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP Division A: Surrey 21, Sussex 23; Berkshire 23, Hampshire 21; London 27, Kent 17.

League placings: (3 matches) Sussex 93pts; London 91; Kent 82; Hampshire 60; Surrey 58; Berkshire 57. Top Sussex player: 10-12 Damian Campsey.

Division B: Surrey 20, Sussex 24; Berkshire 16, Hampshire 28; London 24, Kent 20.

League placings: (3 matches) Sussex 112pts; Surrey 84; Kent 82; Hampshire 73; London 56; Berkshire 19. Top Sussex player: 11-12 John Robinson.

Division C: Surrey 29, Sussex 15; London 21, Kent 23.

League placings: Surrey 101 pts (3 matches); London 59 (3); Sussex 40 (2); Kent 40 (2); Hamp-shire 39 (2). Top Sussex players: 4-4 Andreas Emmanuel, Richard Frost.

Ladies Division: Surrey 33, Sussex 11; Berkshire 14, Hamp-shire 30; London 21, Kent 13.

League placings: (3 matches) Kent 91pts; Surrey 90; London 80; Hampshire 73; Sussex 68; Berkshire 32. Top Sussex player: 9-12 Zoi Kakouris.

Youth Division: Surrey 22, Sussex 22; London 17, Kent 27.

League placings: Surrey 68pts (3 matches); Kent 61 (2); Hamp-shire 58 (2); London 52 (3); Sus-sex 38 (2). Top Sussex players: 5-8 Ryan Copping, Gary Taylor, Dean Torode.

BRIGHTON LEAGUE Knockout Cup: Final: Battle of Trafalgar D 2, Battle of Trafalgar Z 3.

Men's Singles: Third round: P. Fagan (FMT Club) 2, M. Knight (St George) 0; D. Tildesley (Hove Park Tavern) 2, I. York (Kendal Arms) 0; N. Hughes (Hove Park Tavern) 2, R. Da Costa (Bevendean Club) 0; R. Frost (Racehill Inn) 0, S. Southon (Hove Park Tavern) 2; A. Burchell (Battle of Trafalgar) 2, G. Clay (Branch Tavern) 0; D. Howells (Kendal Arms) 2, S. Lineham (Kendal Arms) 1; P. Nicholas (St George) 2, M. Cullis (St Aubyns) 1.

Ladies Singles: Quarter-finals: P. Briggs (Racehill Inn) 0, K. Mon-tague (Cobblers Thumb) 3; A. Line-ham (Kendal Arms) 2, J. Chappel (Racehill Inn) 3; S. Wynn (Racehill Inn) 3, A. Wincott (Racehill Inn) 0; Z. Kakouris (Racehill Inn) 0, L. Codling (Hove Park Tavern) 3.

Mixed Doubles: Final: Bill Burstow (St Aubyns) & Marcia Williams (Hove Park Tavern) 4, Clint Williams & Claire Williams (Victoria) 1. Semi-finals: Burstow & Marcia Williams 3, Nick Young & Mel Whipp (St Aubyns) 2; Clint Williams & Claire Williams 3, Les Sanders & Jodie Stainer (Kendal Arms).