Sussex responded to captain Chris Adams' rallying call by making further inroads into the Surrey batting at Hove today.

Adams had demanded another big effort from his bowlers as the county looked to turn the screw in the battle between the first division's top two.

He said: "Every time I have asked for a big effort in the field the boys have not let me down.

"We saw it on the last day at Arundel and Leicester and again last week at Trent Bridge when we would have beaten Nottinghamshire had it not rained and we lost the first day.

"We need it to happen again but, whatever happens in this match, I think we have shown to people that we deserve to be up there challenging for the title."

It was no surprise that Mushtaq Ahmed provided the breakthrough with two wickets in three deliveries at the start of the third day to take his tally for the season to 71.

The leg-spinner switched ends after bowling 25 overs from the Sea End yesterday and he struck with the final delivery of his first over when Martin Bicknell fell leg before playing down the wrong line.

Bicknell had helped Mark Ramprakash add 89 in 31 overs for the seventh wicket but Ramprakash quickly lost another partner in Mushtaq's next over when Ian Salisbury missed an attempted drive through the leg side after he had been lured out of his crease and Tim Ambrose completed an excellent stumping.

At 217-8, Surrey still needed another 63 to avoid the follow-on but Ramprakash held firm and he found another resolute partner in Saqlain Mushtaq who, despite batting at No. 10, has a Test century to his name.

Mushtaq and James Kirtley kept them tied down for the first hour and Saqlain only just beat Mushtaq's direct hit from fine leg when he responded to Ramprakash's call for a second run after leg-glancing Paul Hutchison.

Saqlain celebrated by hoisting the left-armer for a straight six in his next over before repeating the shot twice in three balls off Mushtaq, the second blow ensuring that Surrey saved the follow-on.

By then Ramprakash was celebrating his fourth Championship century of the season, although he had a stroke of luck reaching the landmark when an mis-timed pull off Hutchison only just evaded Mushtaq as he hared around the fine leg boundary.

Instead, the ball went for four, the 13th of his innings. Ramprakash had batted for just short of five hours, facing 211 balls. The ninth wicket stand had been worth 84 in 21 overs when Ramprakash was caught behind off Kirtley.