Sussex then lost two successive matches, which was thought to permanently damage their quarter-final chances, but they recovered with wins over Hampshire and Kent which sent them into third place of the South Division.

For the Sharks, Johannes van der Wath top scored with 80 and shared a 110-run partnership with Robin Martin-Jenkins to pull Sussex out from 60 for 5 to a final total of 182 for 7 in 45 overs.

By way of comparison, it took Sussex six overs to reach their first 50, with Ian Ward (65 off 44) scoring most of the early runs, although admittedly batting was easier on the drying pitch.

Michael Yardy was the star of the match, notching up 35 fours and two sixes in a towering 257 – the highest score of the English first class season so far – which led Sussex to 549 for 7 declared.

Somerset won the toss, batted, and fell to 88 for 5 against Sussex's tight bowling before Ian Blackwell smashed 10 sixes and 10 fours as he made 134 not out off only 71 balls.

In reply Matt Prior made 77, but Sussex looked like a defeated side after 4 wickets from Keith Parsons sent them to 201 for 7, but Johannes van der Wath smashed 73 off 43 balls to sneak the victory, sharing an 82-run ninth-wicket stand with Jason Lewry.

The experienced fast bowler Jason Lewry took six for 77 for Sussex, while the Welsh team's new import, Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, scored a duck in his first innings.

The Sharks chased down the target easily, as openers Matt Prior and Ian Ward put on 108, and whilst Scotland were able to take two wickets, Sussex sped home with 16.3 overs to spare.

Two quick wickets from Sean Ervine slowed the Sharks' progression, as they slumped to 88 for 5, but Michael Yardy hit 10 in four balls in an unbeaten 11-run sixth-wicket stand with Carl Hopkinson.

Eventually, a six from Naved-ul-Hasan won Sussex the game with three balls to spare to put them third in the table, but as they were the poorest third-placed side in the competition with only three wins, they were still knocked out.

Then, a fiery opening spell from Simon Cook, who had hit an unbeaten 28 with the bat, resulted in three quick wickets (he ended with excellent figures of three for 15 off nine overs) and sent Sussex down to 22 for 4.

However, an opener Ian Ward completed his century, and 63 from Murray Goodwin swung it Sussex's way to 210 for 2 before South African all-rounder Andrew Hall took two quick wickets.

(Cricinfo scorecard) Lancashire beat Sussex by 35 runs to progress to the Semi-Finals of the C&G Trophy Andrew Symonds scored 101 and took two wickets for 46 to be the difference between the sides at Old Trafford.

Having been sent in to bat, Lancashire owed much of their success to a partnership of 118 between Symonds and Marcus North, and good lower-order hitting took the total to 249 for 8, despite three wickets each from Sussex' Pakistanis, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mushtaq Ahmed.

The Sussex chase looked on when they were 112 for 1 with Matt Prior and Chris Adams at the crease, as they were just waiting for opportunities to up the run-rate, but instead Symonds and England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff ran through them with the ball, and Robin Martin-Jenkins and Ahmed eventually had to consolidate to 214 for 8, losing by 35 runs.

Hampshire slumped to 309 on the morning of day two, and solid contributions from the entire batting order – bar number three Michael Yardy who made a duck – lifted Sussex to a slender seven-run lead amid Ervine's swing bowling, which yielded five wickets for 73.

A Surrey Lions side including three debutants – Stewart Walters, Rory Hamilton-Brown and Jake Dernbach – crumbled despite the efforts of Mark Ramprakash who made 63, as they were all out for 171.

Sussex resumed play on the second day with an overnight score of 97 for 4, and immediately lost two wickets to swing bowler Jon Lewis, who ended with four for 62.

Lewis took four wickets on the fourth morning to bowl Sussex out for 267, Yardy completing his century before he was caught off Ian Fisher, setting up a potentially exciting finish with 317 required off 74 overs.

Mark Ramprakash, Rikki Clarke and Jonathan Batty steadied the ship, and Surrey made their way to 157 for 3, only for all-rounder Robin Martin-Jenkins to snare a couple of wickets and incite a collapse to 187 for 8.

Murray Goodwin, Chris Adams and Matt Prior all made quick half-centuries, to propel Sussex to 365, while the Gloucestershire spinners shared seven wickets – Malinga Bandara taking four for 64 and Ian Fisher three for 93.

However, Zimbabwean Murray Goodwin scored a solid, two-hour 86 not out, and guided the team to the target, putting on 82 with Robin Martin-Jenkins after spinner Alex Loudon had taken two wickets to set Sussex back to 91 for 5.

Warwickshire's Jonathan Trott, who had made a career best 152 two weeks previously, now notched up his third first class century of the season as he carried his team to 329 for 7 on the first day.

Then, Rana set out to repair his poor first innings effort, taking four wickets in 15 overs as Warwickshire could only muster 180 – and that was mostly thanks to a 50-run partnership between Trevor Frost and Brown.

(Cricinfo scorecard) Sussex (4pts) beat Scotland (0pts) by seven wickets Rana Naved-ul-Hasan's pace bowling was too much to handle for the Scottish Saltires, as they whimpered to 132 all out despite Jonathan Beukes making 51.

Sussex Sharks strolled to the target in just over half the allotted time, Matt Prior smashing thirteen fours and one six in a fifty-ball 69, while Sean Weeraratna took two for 20 for the Scots.

The visitors had opted to bat first, and lost three early wickets for 40 runs, but a calm rearguard from Mark Ramprakash set the stage for some fours from Azhar Mahmood near the end.

Mushtaq eventually faced the final ball of the match, and he hit it to the boundary, which gave Sussex the win and extended their Division Two lead to ten points.

Matthew Walker and Darren Stevens added 52 together for the fourth wicket, but it was the half-centuries from Min Patel and Niall O'Brien – his second in successive matches – that carried Kent past 200.

Kirtley, Rana and Mushtaq removed the last seven wickets for 94 runs on day three, leaving Sussex 148 to chase, which they did inside two hours thanks to half-centuries from Carl Hopkinson and Michael Yardy.