Sussex came so close to winning gold in the final rounds of the County Championships (premier division) at Grantham.

They beat Devon, Surrey and Essex, but lost to to holders Yorkshire in the final round when a draw would have given Sussex the title.

Instead, Sussex had to settle for silver for the third time in three years.

Yorkshire No.1, Michael James was beaten by Ritchie Venner and Adrian Moore, but a Chinese student, Gwang Shi, defeated Moore and Venner to clinch the trophy.

Venner said: "Gwang plays in my Darlington team. He is a useful top spinner. In the British League he was beaten by Nigel Eckersley, but at Grantham I have never seen him play so well."

Gwang is ranked No.46 on the England list. Yorkshire's other key win was by Peter Marshall, No.33 on the England rankings, who beat Venner.

Sally Weston (Horsham) kept the Sussex flag flying with five wins from eight, but county champion Rose Rainton (Bexhill) won only three matches.

So Sussex remain the second strongest county in England over the last three years.

A controversial rule change will be put forward at the European Championships in Zagreb on Saturday when the ball on service be thrown 30cm into the air instead of the present 15cm.