Sussex 393 (104 overs) and 167-3 (65 overs)
Surrey 321 (104.4 overs)
Sussex (14 points) drew with Surrey (13 points)
Sussex skipper Tom Haines made his fifth half-century of the season as their game with Surrey fizzled out into a draw at Hove.
Frustratingly for Haines, he has failed to convert any of those fifties into a hundred and will feel he missed out again. Having reached 63 with few alarms, he pulled a long hop from Rahul Chahar to mid-wicket.
Sussex reached 167-3 in their second innings – a lead of 240 – when the teams shook hands at 4.20pm after Ollie Pope had bowled only his second over in first-class cricket.
In the final analysis, the loss of the first day’s play to rain proved crucial.
For there to have been a positive result today, Surrey needed to exceed Sussex’s first innings total of 393 and take early wickets to put them under pressure. In the end, on a slow, true pitch, neither happened.
Surrey still need a few points to make sure they don’t get dragged into a relegation battle but they have put distance between themselves and second-bottom Leicestershire so should be fine.
The Foxes also face a possible points deduction for preparing a substandard pitch against Glamorgan last month.
Sussex stay fourth and, although they are in touch with the three title chasers, a more realistic ambition is to repeat last season’s fourth-place finish.
And that would be a notable achievement in itself considering that they started the season with a 12-point penalty for financial irregularities.
And they will have a say in the destination of the title with Nottinghamshire at Hove next week in the penultimate round of fixtures.
When Sussex batted again, with a lead of 73, they soon lost George Thomas who was pinned in front by Matt Fisher.
But by the 14th over, leg-spinner Chahar and fellow Indian Mahipal Lomror (left-arm spin) were getting into their work and they ended up sending down 42 overs between them.
However, with only some slow turn on offer, it took them 21 overs to make a breakthrough by which time Haines and Charlie Tear added 90 for the second wicket.
Tear was LBW to a full-length ball from Lomror although the batsman was entitled to think it might have been drifting down the leg side.
Haines, who is averaging a modest 28.87 this season, looked unperturbed against the twin spin attack.
But he was mortified when Chahar’s full toss ended up being safely pouched by Rory Burns diving to his left instead of being pummelled over the boundary.
Oli Carter and James Coles put on 36 for the fourth wicket before the game was mercifully put to bed.
Earlier, Surrey’s last three wickets added 27 runs before they were bowled out for 321, a deficit of 73.
Adam Thomas and Fisher extended their eighth-wicket stand to 47 when Thomas drove left-arm spinner Coles’s fifth ball low to extra cover.
Ari Karvelas had Chahan caught low down by wicketkeeper John Simpson for a duck and Fisher picked out mid-on when he tried to hit Jaydev Unadkat over the top.
Surrey coach Gareth Batty said: “There was some good cricket and performances by both sides. It’s very difficult when you take so much time out of the game to get a result.
“Today, we set out with a plan A to extend our batting but our plan B was to put Sussex under pressure and, for the last 40 minutes of the first session and then the second session, our intention and commitment were really good before the game petered out.
“They are nice building blocks for us to take into next week. We’ve had a reasonable small window of performance and we need to grow.”
Sussex director of cricket Paul Farbrace said: “I thought there was some really good cricket and I was delighted with how we played right from the start when George Thomas on debut set the tone.
“To go on and get 393 in the day was a really good effort. Yesterday, I thought we bowled really nicely.
“The only disappointing thing was that we missed six chances and a stumping – and that could have made a big difference. At least we created opportunities to give ourselves a chance.
“At the start of this six-week block there were concerns about how we would do but we have been right back on it.
“We set out at the start of the season to finish in the top two and we’ve got two games left and that’s the challenge – how high can we finish?”
