Sussex came from three games down to beat Kent in their County Champion-ship match at the Brighton Trades and Labour Club.

The victory opened Sussex's account for the season and came in a thrilling climax as they triumphed 19-17 in a nailbiting affair.

Sussex went into the deciding men's A team match with the scores deadlocked at 12-12 after all three of the previous matches, involving the men's B side and both ladies' teams, had finished all square.

A home win looked unlikely when Sussex lost the first three games to trail 15-12, but they hit back to level the scores with wins by Simon Wood, Lee Gladman and Tim Norris.

Keith Price then put Sussex in front with a man of the match performance and a 27.33 average and later victories by John Nisbet, Gary Dellow and Geoff Taylor capped a great fightback and completed a 7-5 win for the A team.

Before that, the men's B team had drawn their match 6-6, while the ladies' A and B outfits drew 3-3, with Carly Blay on the scoresheet for both teams.

She produced a lady of the match display with a 17.38 average for the B team, whose other winners were Donna Rainsley and Tina McGovern.

And she notched her second win of the weekend for the A team, for whom team manager Karen Winter was top lady with a 19.77 average and Karen West also on target.

The men's B team were 3-1 and 6-5 down but refused to go under, and they levelled the scores when Andy Hills took the last game.

The man of the match was Dave Creasey with a 31.30 average, while the other Sussex scorers were Jason Hills, Mick Rodgers, Andy Sexton and James Greenfield.

Paul Eves is the first player to successfully defend the Newhaven LV League Open Singles Championship in its ten-year history.

He defeated Darren Woolgar in the final at the Searchlight Social Club.

Seventy top players toed the oche across the county as the new Sussex Super League season kicked off.

Champions Littlehampton Tower and main rivals Brighton both launched their title challenges in convincing style by winning their opening two matches.

Keith Price topped the averages with a 29.60 effort, while Rhonda West had a 25.69 re-turn for the ladies, and Andy Hills hit the highest finish with a 156.