They came to watch the stars of Lashings, celebrate the opening of the East Grinstead Cricket Academy and grab a glimpse of the great Sir Gary Sobers.

A crowd which looked to be 3,000 or more did all that at Saint Hill yesterday, including former Crystal Palace manager Alan Smith, Zimbabwe paceman Henry Olonga and media hotshot Piers Morgan.

The kids got autographs, their parents took photographs, Olonga had a chat with his old Zimbabwe mate Murray Goodwin and Lashings, with Chris Cairns named man-of-the-match, got their win, by eight runs after setting 144-7.

The ground looked fantastic and the academy got its auspiscious opening ceremony thanks to the greatest all-rounder in the history of the game.

Even those who did not cash in had a laugh. Herschelle Gibbs was out for just two and, when asked to sign next to his name in the scorebook, quipped: "My autograph's longer than my innings."

For Sussex coach Peter Moores, however, it was all about warming up his men for the forthcoming Twenty20 Cup.

And his verdict on the exercise? It could not have been much better.

Sussex, resting Chris Adams, Jason Lewry, Matt Prior and Mushtaq Ahmed, were one good over from beating cricket's answer to the Harlem Globetrotters.

Their fielding, after a few early lapses, looked the part, slow bowlers Mike Yardy and Mark Davis proved they can apply the brakes when the bat is flying and Ian Ward, Carl Hopkinson and Johan van der Wath looked in decent nick with the bat.

Van der Wath's ability to score quick runs could be very valuable, if, as seems likely, he stays on for the Twenty 20 in place of injured Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.

Moores said: "At the moment we are trying to find out where we are with Rana.

"There is a chance he might have broken his thumb and that could mean he's out for anything up to six weeks.

"If he's injured we are in the privileged position in a way of having Johan here and he can carry on."

Van der Wath would relish the opportunity. He said: "It looks like I might be here for the Twenty20 stuff.

"I've played Twenty20 for two seasons in South Africa and it's good fun."

Without a mid-innings lull brought about by canny bowling from Cairns and Chris Harris, Sussex might have had enough to win a match which, almost two months into the campaign, still felt like a pre-season friendly Moores said: "It was brilliant practice for the Twenty20 Cup. We've got a Championship game before then but this reminds everybody of the skills they will need in the Twenty20.

"Things like the use of slower balls, how to vary your pace, yorkers and the standard of fielding that's required."

Sussex used six bowlers with James Kirtley's 1-16 off three overs making him the most economical. Davis went for a run a ball, despite being hit out of the ground once by Cairns.

When Cairns tried to repeat the feat off Yardy, Robin Martin-Jenkins worked wonders to keep his feet inches inside the rope at long-on and reach out to catch the ball as it dropped beyond the boundary.

Ian Ward's four fours off the opening over of the reply, bowled by Javagal Srinath, offered a false dawn.

Vasbert Drakes followed it with a maiden to Goodwin and Sussex lost wickets steadily to be 58 adrift with 4.2 overs to go.

Hopkinson and van der Wath blasted 18 off the next four balls and it was game on when the South African twice lofted Drakes on to the neighbouring hockey pitch.

Drakes, replied with two yorkers, then induced a top-edge which Rashid Latif held.

That, despite a popular late six by local boy Neil Turk off Drakes, was the end of the contest. Sobers would have been shivering by then. For Moores and Grinstead, though, it was all smiles.

Scores: Lashings 144-7 (Cairns 37, H. Marshall 21, Laxman 20, Latif 20no, Martin-Jenkins 2-22), Sussex 136-9 (van der Wath 44, Ward 25, Cairns 2-16).