Chris Adams and the Sussex players were determined to end the Peter Moores' era in style and they were as good as their word.

A convincing eight-wicket wicket win over Yorkshire Phoenix at Hove yesterday secured the National League second division title and was a fitting finale to Moores' two decades at Hove as player and, for the last eight seasons, coach.

The old ground was not quite full but hardly anyone had left by the time the silverware was handed over, the biggest cheer reserved for the moment Moores got his hands on the trophy and raised it towards the hundreds of delighted Sussex supporters on the outfield below.

Not quite the same as Sussex's long-awaited Championship success two years ago of course but a memorable occasion nonetheless and certainly a lot better than when they won the trophy for the first time in 1999 after beating Derbyshire in a ten-over slog under leaden East Midlands skies.

Even the weather behaved itself yesterday. Torrential rain in the morning gave way to sunshine and Sussex's performance was as bright as the conditions.

It soon became evident which team were hunting down a trophy and which one had not won in any competition in 14 games.

Yorkshire's last victory over county opposition in the totesport League came against Sussex on May 1.

Since then, apart from a brief blip when they lost three in a row in August, the Sharks have not been out of the top three and it is testament to the tenacity of runners-up Durham that Sussex's coronation was delayed until the last day of the season.

The Dynamos, together with Warwickshire, will also be playing in division one next season when the competition reverts to eight 40 overs a-side matches to be played in the second half of the season with only two teams going down. Sussex will fancy their chances of carrying the momentum from this summer and challenging for back-to-back titles.

There was enough in a two-paced pitch to convince Adams to bowl first after he had won the toss and apart from wicketkeeper Simon Guy, who made 29 coming in at No. 6, none of the Yorkshire batsmen ever hinted at permanence.

The seamers shared eight of the wickets with second-change bowlers Luke Wright and Robin Martin-Jenkins taking four wickets between them in 14 balls to reduce the Tykes to a miserable 37-5.

Richard Lumb mis-timed a pull in Martin-Jenkins' first over and spooned a catch to mid off and Joe Sayers fell to Wright three balls later, bowled by a beauty which pitched on middle and hit off.

Ian Harvey has caused Sussex some distress in one-day cricket down the years so they were delighted to see the back of the former Australian all-rounder for just a single, caught behind as he sparred outside off stump at Martin-Jenkins.

Then Wright had the crowd on their feet with an athletic return catch off Tim Bresnan, diving low to his right to intercept the ball a couple of inches from the turf.

Yorkshire would have been in deeper trouble had Mike Yardy held on to a fairly straightforward slip chance when Guy was on seven.

It was the only blemish in an otherwise fiercely committed fielding display by Sussex, the highlight of which came when Mushtaq ran out Mark Cleary with a direct hit from mid off to end a seventh wicket stand of 26 which had briefly raised Yorkshire hopes of a recovery.

Mushtaq got his obligatory wicket when Guy was leg before sweeping and Rana Naved came back to demolish the tail in the space of four balls.

James Kirtley, who had taken his 31st wicket of the season in his third over when he had Matthew Wood leg before, was clearly the outstanding bowler in the promotion-winning campaign but Wright (19), Rana (16) and Martin-Jenkins (14) all made important contributions while Mushtaq's 19 victims was his biggest tally in a season for the county.

Sussex disappointingly lost Matt Prior, their leading run-scorer this season, in the second over of the reply when he was beaten for pace by Deon Kruis but Adams and Richard Montgomerie knocked 60 off the target without too many alarms before Montgomerie became another victim of the pitch, caught by off-spinner Mark Lawson off a leading edge.

It was highly appropriate that Adams, who has been with Moores every step of the way for the last eight, eventful years, hit the winning runs when he lofted Lawson down the ground for his seventh boundary.

"Credit to Durham for taking it down to the wire but I think we have been the outstanding side in the division," said Adams.

"The performance of Luke Wright shows that the future is bright and there's no reason why we can't compete again to win the first division next season. In the meantime we are going to enjoy this moment."

There was time for one more hug between coach and captain before the celebrations began in earnest.

Yesterday's scores - totesport League, division one, Bristol Glamorgan Dragons 262-6 (Hemp 84 no) v Gloucestershire Gladiators 263-7 Spearman 80) Gloucestershire beat Glamorgan by 3 wkts.

The Rose Bowl: Nottinghamshire Outlaws 248-5 (Hussey 75) v Hampshire Hawks 127 Nottinghamshire beat Hampshire by 37 runs (D/L Method).

Northampton: Northamptonshire Steelbacks 208 (Love 53, Wright 51 no) v Essex Eagles 209-3 (Cook 94, Flower 88 no) Essex beat Northamptonshire by 7 wkts.

New Road: Lancashire Lightning 186-8 (Law 67) v Worcestershire Royals 111 Lancashire beat Worcestershire by 75 runs.

division two Grace Road: Leicestershire Foxes 280-5 (Ackerman 78, Maddy 51, Mongia 50) v Kent Spitfires 170-6 (Stevens 76, van Jaarsveld 59 no) Leicestershire beat Kent by 40 runs (D/L Method).

Taunton: Somerset Sabres 300-6 (Parsons 75 no, Blackwell 75, Francis 60) v Derbyshire Phantoms 165 (Hassan Adnan 62, Blackwell 5-26) Somerset beat Derbyshire by 135 runs.

The Brit Oval: Scottish Saltires 212-9 (Wright 88 no, Hussain 52, J W Dernbach 4-36) v Surrey Lions 204-2 (Newman 80 no, Batty 51) Surrey beat Scotland by 8 wkts (D/L Method).

Edgbaston: Warwickshire Bears 187-8 v Durham Dynamos 154-2 (Collingwood 67 no, Maher 61) Durham beat Warwickshire by 8 wkts (D/L Method).