Ritchie Venner has retained his No.1 position on the new Sussex ranking list.

The 36-year-old the Sussex champion, from Crawley, made his third appearance for Darlington in the British League premier division on Sunday.

He won all three games against Barnet, including victory over Barnet's No.1 Hungarian Gergely Urban.

Last week Venner played in the one day Cippham two-star Open at Slough and won the men's singles with a 3-1 final victory over Chris Beckley of Surrey.

Sussex completed the double when the women's singles trophy was taken by Rose Rainton from Bexhill.

Sussex seconds defeated Surrey 6-4 and Oxfordshire 8-2 in the senior county championships, which were also held at Slough, Sheila King and Sarah Steadman (Arundel) both won three matches from four.

If Sussex seconds can beat the Isle of Wight away on December 1 at Ryde they will be in line for promotion.

But in March the most awkward clash of the season is looming.

The senior county championship matches clash with the veterans' premier weekend. Three Sussex players will have to choosen - they are Nigel Eckersley, Peter Bartram and Terry Hayley.