Moores: We were nailed

The county slumped from 143-2 to 192-9 from their 50 overs and although their bowlers made Surrey work hard, the home side had seven wickets in hand when they reached their target with 14 balls to spare, helped by a hefty 35 extras including 20 wides.

Moores said: "It's disappointing but we can't have any complaints, we were beaten by the better side.

"We were probably 20 runs short of a competitive score. Their four main bowlers were very disciplined and we lost wickets at a time when we were trying to accelerate.

"The boys gave 120 per cent in the field, which you'd expect, but we gave them too many extras.

"Obviously wides will happen in one-day cricket because you are trying to bowl tight lines, but when you have a small total to defend they can make a big difference.

"Surrey have underachieved in one-day cricket in the last two seasons, but with the quality of side they have they are going to be hard to beat.

"They nailed us, we can't really have too many arguments."

Man of the match was Surrey opener Mark Butcher who carried his bat for a disciplined 87 off 146 balls.

Apart from one misjudgement, when Mark Robinson almost clung onto a difficult return catch after the left-hander had made 69, Butcher rarely looked in any trouble even though a slow pitch rendered attacking strokeplay hazardous.

The pick of the Sussex attack was Robin Martin-Jenkins who took 2-28 from his ten overs.

He made the breakthrough in the fifth over when Ali Brown lost patience with the accuracy of the new ball bowling and edged to the keeper aiming a big drive outside off stump.

But Sussex had to wait another 21 overs for their next wicket as Butcher and brother-in-law Alec Stewart joined forces in a second wicket partnership of 85.

Chris Adams, desperate for a breakthrough, brought Martin-Jenkins back at the Vauxhall end and he decisively yorked Stewart for 31 in the second over of his new spell.

Robinson was no less accurate and tigerish fielding meant that Surrey still needed 58 with 11 overs remaining. But Butcher and Ian Ward took eight off an over from Michael Bevan which seemed to break the shackles and Surrey's place in the quarter-finals, where they face Lancashire at home, was never in doubt after that.

Ward played on to Billy Taylor in the 47th over, but it was academic as Surrey only needed 11 more runs for victory at that stage.

How Sussex could have done with another 20 or 30 runs. Instead, after reaching 143-2 with 12 overs left to accelerate they lost seven wickets in adding another 61.

Adams, surprised by Alex Tudor's extra bounce, and Tony Cottey, who had looked good until he loosely jabbed a ball from medium-pacer Jason Ratcliffe to slip, were back in the hutch with 39 on the board in the 14th over.

Surrey skipper Adam Hollioake had plenty of bowling options at his disposal and it was hard work for Michael Bevan and Richard Montgomerie on a pitch which offered seam movement for the quicks and some slow turn for Saqlain Mushtaq and Ian Salisbury.

But the third wicket pair put on 104 in 22 overs as Bevan improvised effectively and ran like a hare for quick singles while Montgomerie put away the occasional bad ball.

The stand was starting to gain some real momentum when 27 runs were plundered off four overs from Ben Hollioake, but Salisbury made the breakthrough when Bevan edged his googly to Alec Stewart after making 60 off 94 balls with six boundaries.

Suddenly the wheels came off as the lack of depth in Sussex's batting was exposed again. Adam replaced his brother at the pavilion end and enduced Will House to play on in the next over.

Hollioake took the key wicket of Montgomerie in his next over when the opener miscued an attempted pull after batting for nearly three hours for his 53.

Sussex wickets scattered like leaves in the breeze after that. Umer Rashid got a leading edge off Saqlain to extra cover, Hollioake took his third wicket when he trapped Andy Patterson leg before and Martin-Jenkins was run out by Salisbury's excellent throw from the square leg boundary as he scampered through for a second run.

Billy Taylor drove Martin Bicknell to mid off but Mark Robinson hit successive boundaries in the last over to take Sussex to a competitive rather than challenging total.

There was no time for the players to reflect on their disappointment. They headed to Edgbaston last night for the most important Championship match of the season against second division leaders Warwickshire starting today.

Moores added: "The lads will need some picking up but the good thing is that it's a vital game and they won't need a lot of motivating."

Jason Lewry and Toby Peirce come into the squad while Will House will return to Hove to play for the seconds against Somerset in the AON Trophy.