Sussex take on Championship favourites Lancashire at Hove tomorrow full of confidence despite their narrow failure to beat Surrey at The Oval yesterday.

Mohammad Akram took 4-81 as Surrey, trailing by 189 on the first innings, were grateful for Scott Newman's unbeaten 86 as they closed on 254-9 second time around.

But skipper Chris Adams believes his side are capable of retaining the title if they reproduce the form they showed against the 2002 champions.

He said: "It's nice to come to the Oval and boss the bosses," he said.

"All our players seem to be in good form. It's not often you go to Surrey and get all the bonus points in three days.

"If we play with that level of performance throughout the season we will win it again by some margin. The great thing for us is that we have carried on from where we left off at the end of last year which is very encouraging."

Sussex are likely to be unchanged against a Lancashire side who were also held to a draw in their opener by Northamptonshire.