Sussex suffered their fourth consecutive defeat in the NatWest T20 Blast as Surrey completed a crushing victory at the Oval.

Jason Roy smashed an unbeaten 81 while Hashim Amla scored 61 not out as Surrey raced to victory without losing a wicket and with 27 balls to spare.

The pair made it look easy on a pitch the Sussex batsmen had struggled on badly, with the Sharks only able to struggle to 148-5 thanks to a partnership of 76 between Ed Joyce and Ben Brown.

Sussex’s innings got off to a steady start after they had been put in to bat as Luke Wright and Matt Machan put on 43 for the first wicket in 38 balls.

Wright was fortunate to be dropped by Amla when he had made 21 but his luck ran out when he was bowled by Kevin Curran for 31.

The Sharks were then strangled by spin as the introduction of Robin Peterson and Gareth Batty saw the runs dry up even more.

As the pressure grew the wickets started to fall. Rory Hamilton-Brown was lbw to Peterson for ten and Machan went in the same manner for 21 off the bowling of Batty who finishes with figures of 1-15 from his four overs.

When Chris Nash was also trapped in front by Peterson having made just one Sussex were in trouble on 67-4 after 11 overs.

Brown and Joyce set about rebuilding the Sussex innings, cautiously at first and then with a flourish at the end.

After 14 overs the Sharks were stuck in neutral on 76-4 but the boundaries began to flow once Joyce had got used to the pace of the pitch.

The skipper spoiled Robin Peterson’s previously excellent figures by launching him for a huge straight six followed by a four.

He was run out off the penultimate ball for 45 but Brown ensured Sussex finished on a high note by blasting Azhar Mahmood’s last ball for six over wide long-on to get the Sharks up to 148-5.

Sussex knew they would have to bowl well to defend such a total and got off to the worst possible start.

Amla and Roy went on the attack from the outset, taking 15 from Yasir Arafat’s first over an then crashing 19 from Ashar Zaidi’s.

By the end of the six-over powerplay they had raced to 69-0 and although Sussex were able to peg them back slightly once the fielding restrictions were lifted the damage had been done.

Roy went on to reach his 50 – from 27 balls - with a big six off Will Beer and continued to flay the Sussex bowling to all parts of the ground.

Amla also reached his half century but was happy to play a supporting role to Roy – his 50 taking a more sedate 44 deliveries.

The pair ensured there was no need to Kevin Pietersen as they wrapped up victory in the 16th over.