Sussex curtailed another Mark Ramprakash masterclass to put themselves in a strong position after day one of their must-win Championship contest against Surrey.

It was hard to believe Ramprakash was plying his trade at the County Ground rather than in the Edgbaston Test as he moved smoothly towards yet another hundred against Sussex.

But with his eighth century against the county in sight, he uppercut Luke Wright straight to gully and was out for 97 for the third time this season.

The sight of their nemesis trudging back to the pavilion was all the incentive Sussex needed.

Robin Martin-Jenkins had just returned to the attack and taken two wickets in his first over as Surrey, from a prosperous position of 157-3, lost their last seven wickets for 91 and were dismissed for 248 on the stroke of tea.

Had it not been for an ebullient 57 not out from Azhar Mahmood, they would have been in big trouble.

Sussex closed on 104-2 from 35 overs in reply although they suffered a setback when Richard Montgomerie fell just before the close for 68.

Montgomerie is clearly back in nick after making his career one-day best on Monday and he batted with similar freedom here, hitting eight superbly-timed boundaries in his fourth half-century of the season.

He added four more in Jade Dernbach's first over in the Championship before wasting his good work by wafting tamely down the leg side.

Montgomerie began the reply with his third different opening partner and Carl Hopkinson did a solid job before he was leg before to Nyan Doshi.

Nevertheless, Chris Adams must have been delighted his side's efforts considering they were without three first-choice players in Ian Ward, Jason Lewry and Tim Ambrose, all of whom were injured.

He needed lesser lights like Wright and Hopkinson to be at their best and they did not let him down.

Wright managed to hit the splice regularly despite the sluggishness of the pitch and finished with 3-33, figures matched by Mushtaq Ahmed.

It was also reassuring to see Martin-Jenkins, a peripheral figure in Championship cricket in recent weeks, among the wickets again.

With Lewry out for at least a month and Rana Naved likely to miss the Middlesex game in a fortnight, the all-rounder will have a big part to play as Sussex try to climb the table.

The pitch was slow and there was some low bounce at the sea end but Surrey's score was still below-par, even though they lost both openers in James Kirtley's third over.

Kirtley trapped Scott Newman on his crease and had Richard Clinton caught at second slip before Ramprakash and Rikki Clarke did a pretty good repair job for the next hour-and-a-half.

Ramprakash played beautifully, but then again he always seems to against Sussex.

He soon got the measure of the seamers, crashing Martin-Jenkins over the longest boundary at extra cover for the first of three sixes. The other two forced Adams to quickly pull Mushtaq out of the firing line.

One blow landed on a television gantry on top of the Gilligan Stand and another threatened to disturb the old players gathered to remember Lord David Sheppard at a service before play.

Clarke gave him good support in a stand of 88 in 28 overs before losing his off stump to a ball which hardly bounced but when Martin-Jenkins struck twice in four deliveries Sussex came to the boil nicely.

Jon Batty was leg before at the start of the over and Sussex celebrated even more when Martin-Jenkins ran one back into Alistair Brown three balls later.

Ramprakash now held the key but after facing 147 balls, 13 of which he hit to the boundary, Wright snapped up the most important wicket of his fledgling Championship career.

Wright removed Tim Murtagh and Nyan Doshi in successive overs to reduce Surrey to 189-8. Azhar counter-attacked, taking a step down the pitch to launch Kirtley back over his head for six.

Azhar added 48 in eight overs with Mohammad Akram and, as Rana Naved and Mushtaq tried to get them out, it felt more like Hyderabad than Hove.