Sussex held Cumbria to a draw in a nailbiting British League clash.

Rod Hawkins was ultimately the Sussex star, making sure of the point in an 18-18 tie, the county's best result against Cumbria in years.

The men's A team went into the final series of matches with the overall scores level and facing an uphill battle against the top of the table team.

They were soon three games down, Gary Dellow losing in straight legs and Keith Price and Andy Wood both going down 3-1.

Steve Barraclough started the fightback with a marvel-lous 3-0 win, followed by Tim Norris, who won 3-1 with a superb 25.16 average.

Ricky Blay was an unlucky loser against international Richard Smith, despite hitting a maximum and a 29.47 ave-rage, but Shayne Burgess kept Sussex in contention with a 3-0 victory.

Geoff Taylor then produced a man of the match performance, winning 3-2 with an average of 26.85, and when Adrian Gray came up with a brilliant 3-0 win on his A team debut Sussex were in front.

James West could not stop world No. 1 Peter Manley, despite hitting a maximum and taking the first leg, and it was all square again.

Enter Hawkins, who scored a vital 3-1 win in great style, which meant that Sussex shared the spoils even though Paul Eves was beaten in the final game.

The weekend started with the ladies' B team in action. They drew 3-3, while the men's B team won 7-5 to give Sussex an overnight lead of 10-8.

Carole Evans lost the first game, Rhonda West took the next, Tina McGovern was beaten, but Sussex took the next two through Glenys Laker and lady of the match Marcia Brett with a 19.27 average before Bridget Guild-ford lost the last game.

Craig Deeley, making his first appearance of the season, kicked off with a 3-0 win, followed by Phil Hill hitting a maximum 180 and a game shot of 152.

Jason Hills and Paul Rus-sell were both beaten, Adrian Boyle took the next game and Steve Agate went down before Sussex took the next four points.

Lee Gladman had a comfortable 3-0 win, Martin Brown also won in straight legs and Mark Davis came through 3-1.

John Nesbit then produced a marvellous man of the match display, winning 3-2 with an average of 23.67.

It might have been even better for Sussex because Andy Diffey and Ian Burnett both missed valuable doubles in suffering defeats in their games.

Like the men, the Sussex ladies' A team lost their first three games with Trish Kidd going down to top Cumbrian player Chrissy Howatt, Carly Blay missing doubles which cost her, and Karen Black-man losing to Angela John-son, who came off with an average of 25.47.

Karen Winter started the ball rolling with a 3-1 win and a lady of match performance with an average of 17.85, but Chris Allen lost, leaving Donna Rainsley to get the last point for Sussex.

That made the scores 12-12 and set up an exciting climax.