On a heavily rain affected pitch 17 wickets tumbled on the first day of the Championship mach against first division leaders Surrey.

When 15 wickets or more fall in a day, the umpires are obliged to make a report to Lord's but it's unlikely that Roy Palmer and Peter Willey will insist on a visit by a pitch inspector.

The County Ground presented bowlers from both teams with a two-paced pitch which started damp after it was briefly left exposed to the torrential downpour which washed out Monday's National League game.

Even so, it wasn't until after lunch that Sussex's bowlers vindicated Chris Adams' decision to bowl first as Surrey lost their last nine wickets for 99 in 21 overs to be dismissed for 193, their lowest total of the season.

James Kirtley, in his first Championship bowl for nearly two months, started the slide by removing Mark Ramprakash and Nadeem Shahid in successive overs, but the innings was wrapped up by Kevin Innes whose canny medium pace earned him 4-41, the best Championship return of his career. Only Alistair Brown, who hit seven boundaries in his 52-ball 49, batted with any real fluency.

If anything, Sussex found the going even harder although their reply only went into steep decline after Tony Cottey, who batted well for his 35, was run out when he turned down Adams' call for a single to mid-wicket and found himself at the non-striker's end with only his captain for company.

The pair had put on 54 in 11 overs following the early dismissals of openers Richard Montgomerie and Murray Goodwin. Adams seemed to be coping with the uneven bounce as well as anyone until he drove too early at a ball from Ed Giddins which ballooned into the leg side where Mushtaq Ahmed took a superb catch despite a comical collision with Mark Ramprakash.

Mushtaq, Surrey's temporary replacement for Saqlain Mushtaq, has taken 864 wickets with his leg breaks and the former Somerset man demanded respect, but this was a day when the seamers held sway.

Tudor returned to the attack to remove Tim Ambrose and Matt Prior in successive overs while Robin Martin-Jenkins was superbly caught by wicketkeeper Jonathan Batty off Tim Murtagh, all three wickets falling with the total on 112.

But Innes and Mark Davis, who batted so well together in the day-nighter on Wednesday, took the score to 139-7 before bad light forced an early halt with five overs of the day remaining.