Sussex will be playing in the first division next season - but the promotion champagne is staying on ice for a few more days.

The county, who finished bottom of the table a year ago, clinched their place in the top flight after drawing with Warwickshire at Edgbaston yesterday.

But skipper Chris Adams, whose team are definitely guaranteed second place and prize money of £25,000, want to go up as champions.

And to make sure they will have to beat Gloucestershire in their final game which starts at Hove tomorrow.

So the promotion celebrations have been put on hold for a few days, but Adams couldn't hide his delight that their first objective had been achieved.

He said: "I am chuffed to bits. The players have got what their hard work all season deserves. But there won't be a lot of celebrating just yet. We've still got two more big games and if we beat Gloucestershire and go up in the Norwich Union League then there will be champagne and plenty of it."

Hampshire trail Sussex by six points and are their only rivals for the title. If they were to gain a maximum 20 point victory in their final game at Trent Bridge against Nottinghamshire Adams' men would also need a victory, although they would be champions if they won and only picked up three bonus points.

Sussex batted on for another 40 minutes yesterday to remove any chance of a Warwickshire victory, declaring on 376-5 and setting a target of 450 in 84 overs.

Adams finished on 139 while there was a half-century on his Championship debut for 18-year-old Tim Ambrose.

Mark Robinson briefly raised Sussex hopes by removing Michael Powell (27) and Nick Knight (59) in the space of three overs after lunch. But the pitch offered the bowlers little encouragement and Adams was able to give off-spinner Mark Davis a long spell.

Davis had David Hemp caught on the deep square leg boundary while Mark Wagh made an undefeated 74 before a halt was called six overs early with Warwickshire closing on 240-3.

Adams defended his caution in batting on yesterday even though Sussex started the day with a lead of 397.

He said: "The wicket had flattened out by mid-afternoon on Sunday and I knew with the batting talent that they had I couldn't leave anything to chance."

The county are likely to be unchanged tomorrow but Gloucestershire's Chris Taylor and Jeremy Snape are definitely out injured.