Michael Yardy played the best innings of his Sussex career yesterday but it was not enough to deny Championship leaders Surrey.

Bearing in mind they had dominated from lunchtime on the first day, the Division One leaders probably felt justice was done when Yardy was caught at second slip off Jimmy Ormond with 5.2 overs of a tense final day at The Oval remaining to secure a 113-run victory.

But try telling that to Yardy.

Defying a Test-quality attack with men clustered around the bat chuntering in his earhole for over five hours said as much about the 22-year-old's mental strength as his technical ability.

He did not deserve to be on the losing side and for a while after tea it looked as if he would not be.

When James Kirtley was eighth out with 20 overs remaining, caught at short leg off Ian Salisbury, Surrey closed in for the kill.

Kirtley, in that ever watchful way of his, had done his bit, keeping Yardy company for ten overs before padding up to Ian Salisbury's googly.

Mushtaq Ahmed, in stark contrast, was prepared to go for his shots, most memorably when his former Pakistani team-mate Saqlain Mushtaq bowled a fast off break that pitched halfway down the pitch which he swatted just out of the reach of square leg.

But Mushtaq did succeed in relieving the pressure by scattering the close fielders and the ninth wicket pair had put on 51 in 13 overs without too many alarms when Saqlain deceived him with a quicker ball as he played back.

Last man Billy Taylor walked out to find all ten fielders around the bat. He jabbed his blade down on the only delivery he faced but Ormond, armed with the new ball, made the decisive intervention in the next over with a beauty which nipped away late off the seam to find the edge.

Yardy's 69, which was made off 241 balls with seven boundaries, was his first half-century since last April. More importantly, it will surely give him renewed confidence in his ability to prosper at this level.

Between lunch and tea he scored just 17 runs but his part in a stand of 113 in 29 overs with Robin Martin-Jenkins for the fifth wicket at least made sure Surrey knew they would have to work hard to maintain their unbeaten record in Division One.

Like his partner for much of the afternoon, Martin-Jenkins' confidence will have been restored by the last four days during which he has rediscovered his form with the ball and batted attractively to make two half-centuries.

Driving and pulling with equal ease, he hit 14 boundaries, including three in one over from Saqlain, before Azhar Mahmood, reverse-swinging the old ball, defeated him with a yorker after he had faced just 92 balls for his 88.

Mahmood then persuaded Matt Prior to shovel an attempted pull to deep square leg when he dropped short, but it was his Pakistani team-mate who was to be Surrey's match-winner as he claimed the 29th five-for of his career and third against Sussex.

After Murray Goodwin had played on in the tenth over, Saqlain broke the back of the innings before lunch when he claimed three wickets in 12 balls. Richard Montgomerie was superbly taken off bat-pad at short leg, Tim Ambrose's attempted glance cannoned off his pad onto his leg stump and skipper Chris Adams' wretched form continued with a nine-ball duck, bowled trying to cut against the spin.

Surrey deserved their success and it is hard, even with two-thirds of the season left, to see them being denied a fourth Championship in five seasons.

Surrey beat Sussex by 113 runs