Billy Taylor celebrated his first appearance at Lord's by bowling Sussex into the knockout stages of the Benson and Hedges Cup yesterday.

Taylor took 5-28 and the gold award as Sussex reeled off their third successive win in the south group when they defeated Middlesex by 28 runs.

Now they will be aiming to secure home advantage in the quarter-finals with victory over Surrey at Hove today (10.45am).

Taylor removed Ben Hutton, Owais Shah and Simon Cook in his first spell as Middlesex slumped to 62-7 chasing Sussex's 252-6 before returning to the attack to bowl Chad Keegan and David Nash and claim a limited overs career-best.

Taylor is reaping the rewards for a winter of hard work in New Zealand which, he believes, has helped make him a yard quicker.

He said: "I'm really happy with the way things are going and to get five wickets on your first visit to Lord's is something I'll never forget.

"I took part in a bowling competition in the indoor school a couple of years ago, but I have never played on the actual ground so it was a special day for me."

Coach Peter Moores was delighted with the performance of his bowlers, but admitted his side learned a lesson after allowing Nash and Ashley Noffke to put on a competition record 112 for Middlesex's eighth wicket.

"You can't afford to take your foot off the accelerator," he said. "We lost the game against Essex last week because we lost our momentum so there is a lesson that we have got to heed.

"We had a chat about it afterwards because it's important that we don't let it happen again.

"We thought 252-6 was about par because it was a good wicket for batting, but I thought we bowled really well. Billy's spell at the start won us the match and he was easily the best bowler on either side.

"Now we've got to look to today and see if we can finish with a win which will make sure we are at home in the quarter-finals. There is a lot of confidence in the side and it's important that we keep that going."

Sussex are staging their Open Day today with admission to the ground only £2 for adults and £1 for children and senior citizens. There will be junior coaching on offer as well as entertainment for the kids.