Cricket: Heartbreak for Sussex

And what heartbreak for Sussex at the end of this rain-affected, last-ball thriller.

Sussex, having looked second favourites when man-of-the-match Ali Brown fired a 28-ball 50 for Surrey, eventually lost by five wickets under the Duckworth/Lewis method as the clock ticked on to 10.30pm at the end of an extraordinary night.

Azhar Mahmood drove 16 runs off the last three balls after a mid-innings collapse had left Surrey needing 14 off the last over, delivered by Mike Yardy.

Yardy, bowling the left arm spin he honed in sparsely populated games in the Sussex League, conceded just two singles from his first three balls of the over to Mahmood and Ian Salisbury before Mahmood's huge six over long-on put Surrey back on course.

He followed that with a four through the covers and, with two required off the last delivery, drove straight down the ground.

Hectic stuff, high on drama, but that is Twenty20 cricket for you.

Those long, lazy afternoons when a few dozen members bask idly in deckchairs seemed a world away last night as 5,500 cold, wet fans roared and sang Sussex back into the contest under the Hove lights.

And that's not to mention the spectacle of Chris Adams arriving by helicopter or a nine-man RAF parachute display team keeping the crowd happy after torrental rain held up play by almost an hour.

This is a different world and one Surrey used to dominate until Leicestershire beat them in last year's final.

Surrey want their title back and snatched the win they needed despite a Sussex revival sparked by Luke Wright's dismissal of Wroght when they were cantering at 74-1 with 40 needed off 32 balls.

Murray Goodwin and Adams claimed run outs with great fielding, Mushtaq Ahmed capped a remarkable spell of bowling by getting a thin edge off Scott Newman and suddenly the game was alive.

Mahmood and Salisbury, though, just about finished the job, though the latter was close to being caught by Ian Ward in the penultimate over.

Sussex might feel they could have scored more than the 139-6 to their name when torrential rain forced the players off the pitch three overs from the scheduled interval.

They were 28-0 off ten balls and Prior made 51 off 32 balls, including six fours and a pulled six off Jimmy Ormond.

Expectation had built throughout the afternoon.

Enthusiasts turning up just after lunchtime were told all advanced tickets had gone and to try and snap up some of the remaining 500 when gates opened.

Quite a build-up and the start of the action was suitably explosive.

Ian Ward was dropped by a diving James Benning and sent two inside edges past the stumps for four before being superbly picked up by Ricky Clarke at gully.

Adams had some luck when a leading edge off Tim Murtagh just eluded an irate Ormond.

There was no need for the master of ceremonies to play Don't Look Back In Anger though when Adams was stumped in the next over. He was well out of his ground having given Nayan Doshi the charge as Surrey turned to spin.

Prior eventually perished at long-on, just after completing his third Twenty20 half-century in four innings, but there was no drop in the scoring rate as Murray Goodwin and Mike Yardy combined.

For a couple of minutes it rained sixes as Goodwin pulled Harbhajan Singh and Doshi. Then it just rained leaving Surrey needing 114 off 13 overs. They got there but only just.

Tomorrow evening's game agaist Hampshire at Hove is a sell-out.

Essex and Hampshire had to settle for a point apiece for the second consecutive day after again being hit by rain. The previous night's match at the Rose Bowl was washed out but they at least managed one innings at Chelmsford as the Hawks ran up 151-9.

Greg Lamb top-scored with 67 from 54 balls with Craig McMillan chipping in with 35. Danish Kaneria was the pick of the Eagles bowling with 3-27.

Brad Hodge starred with bat and ball as Lancashire secured a convincing 66-run win over Derbyshire. Hodge top-scored with 44 and then took 4-19 as the Lightning shot out the Phantoms for 98 at Old Trafford to claim top spot in the north group.

Tom Lungley took 3-19 for the visitors but he was outshone by Hodge.

Last night's results, Twenty20 Cup South division, Chelmsford: Match abandoned,1pt each Hampshire Hawks 151-9 (Lamb 67) v Essex Eagles. No result.

Uxbridge: Kent Spitfires 144-8 v Middlesex Crusaders 145-4 (O A Shah 59 no) Middlesex beat Kent by 6 wkts.

North Division, Old Trafford: Lancashire Lightning 164-8 v Derbyshire Phantoms 98 (B J Hodge 4-17) Lancashire beat Derbyshire by 66 runs.

Midlands/West/Wales Division, Northampton: Northamptonshire Steelbacks 95-6 v Somerset Sabres 97-5 Somerset beat Northantsby 5 wkts.

Today's fixtures (5.30 unless stated) - The NatWest Series (1 day) Canterbury: Bangladesh 103-5 v Australia.

Varsity Match, Fenner's: Oxford University 610-5 dec (S Oberoi 247, D R Fox 184, P J McMahon 62 no) v Cambridge University 88-3.

Twenty20 Cup - North Division, Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire Outlaws v Leicestershire Foxes. Headingley: Yorkshire Phoenix v Durham Dynamo.

Midlands/West/Wales Division (1 day) Edgbaston: Warwickshire Bears v Glamorgan.