Sussex will have home advantage if they reach the quarter-finals of the NatWest Trophy.

Last night's draw paired the winners of their tie against Surrey with Lancashire. The match will take place on July 25 or 26.

Coach Peter Moores said: "It's nice to have home advantage, but we have to get past Surrey first which will be difficult enough."

The county's fourth round tie at the Oval resumes today with Sussex 5-0 after only two overs were possible when play finally began at 4.15pm because of rain and bad light.

Bearing in mind the cloud cover and damp atmosphere, it was no surprise that Adam Hollioake decided to bowl first after winning the toss.

Chris Adams said he would have batted anyway and the Sussex captain was quickly into his stride. He got off the mark with a streaky inside edge off Martin Bicknell which didn't miss the stumps by much.

But when Alex Tudor strayed down the leg side in his first over, Adams tucked him through square to the boundary. Bicknell was about to begin his second over when umpires Mike Harris and Graham Burgess offered the light to the Sussex openers and they had no hesitation in accepting.

The forecast for today suggests that there is no guarantee of a positive result which means the possibility of a bowl-out to determine the result.

Graham Thorpe will be missing when Surrey finally bat because of a calf strain. But that still leaves nine internationals in their line-up which is a measure of the task facing Sussex when the action finally resumes today.

Sussex opted for Billy Taylor, who took a one-day best 4-26 in the third round, ahead of the more experienced Jason Lewry, but Moores admitted it was a difficult decision.

He said: " The bowling unit in the National League have done well and it's a pitch where if you hold your length, which Billy does, it could make things hard for the batsman."