Coach Mark Robinson today praised his hardworking squad for turning round Sussex's Twenty20 fortunes.

The county face old rivals Surrey Brown Caps at Hove tonight (7.30pm) looking to consolidate leadership of the south group after back-to-back wins this week.

They beat Kent by seven wickets on Tuesday and followed it up with a nine-wicket thrashing of Hampshire on Wednesday. In both cases, Sussex beat their rivals on their own patch for the first time in Twenty20.

With three of their remaining four games at home, Sussex are on course to qualify for the knockout stages for the first time in the competition's history.

Robinson said: "We have had two great wins this week. Twenty20 is frenetic cricket but performances like that don't just happen.

"The squad has worked hard on their individual plans so they can deliver those skills in a match and when little things which we pre-plan come off it is very exciting."

There is no doubt which individual has been the star of Sussex's campaign so far.

Luke Wright is the competition's leading run-scorer so far with 155 after making 103 against Kent - the third-fastest hundred in domestic Twenty20 history - and an unbeaten 49 the following night.

Only Nottinghamshire's Usman Afzaal has a better strike rate than Wright's 196.20 runs per hundred balls faced.

Robinson added: "Luke takes the pressure off the batsman at the other end because he goes for his shots.

"His two innings will give him so much confidence. When he went in to bat against Kent he was so angry because he had got it wrong with the ball. He wanted to make it up for the team and once he got off and running he batted so well.

"He's got himself in a good place and has huge belief. He is repaying every bit of faith we have shown in him and is giving it back in buckets at the moment."

With the top two qualifying from each group as well as the two third-placed teams with the best records, Sussex would almost certainly qualify with three more wins and they could even squeeze through with two.

And they have turned their fortunes around despite being without two of their most important players, Matt Prior and Mike Yardy.

It has meant opportunities for youngsters like Ollie Rayner, Andrew Hodd and Tom Smith, who made his competition debut on Tuesday.

"In terms of personnel it's a totally different dressing room to last year," said Robinson. "We haven't particularly planned this evolution but it is happening in front of us with youth coming through.

"They bring raw enthusiasm and energy to the squad and it's exciting to see. At times they will be frustrating and make mistakes but at the moment it's like a breath of fresh air."

Surrey will present Sussex's toughest test so far although they have won two of their last three meetings against the Brown Caps.

Robinson warned: "We've only played three games so we can't get carried away but as a team we are growing in this competition.

"The bowling at Kent, compared to the first game against Essex was so much better and the same again on Wednesday and batting-wise we are in a good place at the moment. On Wednesday Luke and Chris (Adams) matched each other punch for punch and we still had two big-hitters in Rayner and Rana Naved to come in."

Sussex will decide their line-up at the last possible moment. If the game is shortened because of rain Smith may keep his place to provide another bowling option with his left-arm spin but Chris Nash could return to strengthen the batting.

Sussex (from): Goodwin, Wright, Adams, Rayner, Rana Naved, Hopkinson, Martin-Jenkins, Nash or Smith, Hodd, Mushtaq Ahmed, Kirtley.

Surrey (probable): Benning, Brown, Ramprakash, Azhar Mahmood, Clarke, Batty, Butcher, Schofield, Nicholson, Doshi, Dernbach.