Sussex players have been queueing up to play their part in the county's best start to a season since 1937.

On Sunday it was Murray Goodwin with his majestic 158 in the win over Essex and yesterday at Horsham Luke Wright and Robin Martin-Jenkins did their bit to keep the county on course for their first Lord's final since 1993.

They smashed 57 off just 26 balls together to steer Sussex to a five-wicket win over Somerset in the C&G Trophy at Horsham.

Gloucestershire's defeat against Hampshire means the county are in a strong position to win the south conference - three points clear with a game in hand over most of their rivals.

Such a scenario seemed unlikely when they lost four wickets with the score stuck on 16 after Somerset had made 158-7 from 24 overs in a match which only began at 3pm because of regular downpours.

A further deluge halfway through the 11th over when they were on 63-4 looked like ending Sussex's slim hopes. But after the third moppingup operation of the day the players re-emerged at 6pm with Sussex needing 59 off 39 balls under Duckworth-Lewis calculations.

It was a tall order even on a quickscoring ground where the straight boundaries are temptingly no more than 55 yards from the middle.

But it looked even more unlikely when Matt Prior, who had kept Sussex in contention with 43 off 38 balls before the stoppage, was brilliantly stumped down the leg side by Carl Gazzard off the first ball he received following the resumption.

But these days, it seems, Sussex don't consider any cause is lost.

Wright belted Peter Trego over mid-wicket for the first of his two sixes to set the tone and Martin-Jenkins chipped the ball with uneering accuracy into the gaps to turn ones into twos.

Suddenly Sussex had the target down to a manageable 22 off three overs and the contest was effectively settled when they plundered 15 off Cameron White's over with Wright hitting the last two balls for four and six.

Wright finished things off by drilling Arul Suppiah to the mid-wicket boundary and a seemingly impossible target had been reached with something to spare, Wright making his 32 off just 13 deliveries.

The two batsmen were mobbed as they made their way to the dressing room through a throng of delighted Sussex supporters who must now believe that the county's long wait for a day out at Lord's could be about to end.

Somerset's score had looked a competitive one thanks to opener Matt Wood.

They were cruising along at eight an over while Wood was adding 52 in seven overs with White but when White picked out long on in Mushtaq Ahmed's second over Sussex were able to apply the brakes and four wickets fell in four overs.

The leg spinner removed Hildreth, Wood and Trego in successive overs to finish with 4-42.

But Somerset had kept enough wickets in hand to take some risks at the end and Trego and Suppiah both cleared the rope.

The most satisfying aspect for Sussex was the fact they chased down the total without a contribution from any of their big guns.

Their challenge for a fifth successive C&G win appeared to have been fatally holed by the loss of four wickets in 11 balls early in the reply.

After Richard Montgomerie had wafted outside off stump to give Andy Caddick a breakthrough, Adams was run out for the second successive day by a brilliant direct hit by James Hildreth.

Goodwin went from hero to zero when he holed out for a third ball duck 24 hours after his brilliant century against Essex and Somerset must have thought they were home and hosed when Charl Willoughby knocked back Carl Hopkinson's off stump in the same over, especially with Mike Yardy unable to bat because of a dislocated finger.

But they had reckoned without Wright and Martin-Jenkins.