Chris Adams accused Hampshire of poor sportsmanship after yet more controversy involving the counties at Arundel in their Twenty20 opener last night.

Non-striker Matt Prior was run out by Chris Benham when he wandered out of his ground seconds after Hampshire's Dominic Thornely had unsuccessfully appealed for a catch off the Sussex skipper.

Although the ball was not dead and Benham was within his rights to throw at the stumps, Adams felt his opposite number Shaun Udal should have withdrawn the appeal.

Adams said: "It's poor form as far as I'm concerned. It's a bit like a bowler running out the non-striker by not letting the ball leave his hand as the batsman backs up.

"The appeal should have been withdrawn but there seems to be a bit of an atmosphere when we play Hampshire at the moment.

"They try to play aggressive, intense, in-your-face cricket in the style of their captain Shane Warne. The funny thing being that Warney wasn't even playing last night."

Mushtaq Ahmed, with 4-30, Adams and Luke Wright were the stars of the win.

Sussex play their second match tonight at Chelmsford against Essex (7pm) and are expected to be unchanged.