Sussex made a winning start to their Twenty20 campaign at Arundel last night but any game against Hampshire these days would not be the same without some sort of flashpoint.

The latest controversy came in the seventh over of Sussex's successful pursuit of a target of 153 which they reached with five balls to spare.

Hampshire were convinced Dominic Thornely had Chris Adams caught at mid-wicket but umpire Allan Jones turned down their appeal.

Non-striker Matt Prior immediately gestured to the balcony for a change of gloves, wandered a couple of steps out of his crease and Chris Benham, who realised that the ball was not dead, ran him out with a direct hit.

Benham was certainly within his rights but whether his action was within the spirit of the game is questionable and skipper Shaun Udal could have defused the incident by withdrawing the appeal.

Prior departed to a volley of abuse from Hampshire's fielders and twice turned round to have a go back - pointing his bat at his accusors and then clapping sarcastically with bat and hand.

The incident did neither county much credit but seems to be par for the course when these two sides meet.

At Hove 11 days ago Shane Warne and Udal made gestures during the C&G Trophy game about James Kirtley's bowling action and Thornely hurled his cap at his accusor after he was allegedly spat at by a spectator in the hospitality tent.

The bad blood started last year when Adams accused his opposite number Shane Warne of verbally abusing' Prior during a Championship game.

Prior had been going great guns - hitting six fours in his 37 off 22 balls - and it took Sussex a while to re-focus after his departure.

Murray Goodwin was run out going for a risky second run when he looked well set and neither Carl Hopkinson nor Sean Heather could make much impression as Udal applied the brakes in the same way as Mushtaq Ahmed during the Hampshire innings.

Even with Adams still there, a target of 37 off three overs looked beyond Sussex but nothing is ever cut and dried in Twenty20.

The crucial over was the 18th when Sussex took 20 from off-spinner Greg Lamb with Adams lofting a six over long off while Luke Wright hammered three boundaries.

Dimitri Mascerenhas looked to have tilted the balance back Hampshire's way with a fantastic diving catch on the third man boundary when Adams sliced a drive off the first ball of the penultimate over.

But Sussex still took 13 off the over with Yasir Arafat slicing his second ball fine to the boundary before hitting the next ball into the crowd at cow corner.

And it was all over when Wright drilled former Sussex man Billy Taylor to the extra cover rope off the first ball of the final over.

Adams, Prior and even Wright, who made such a crucial contribution at the end with 26 in nine balls, were all man of the match contenders but the vote went to Mushtaq Ahmed and rightly so.

When the competition began in 2003 Sussex thought it would offer their veteran leg spinner with a convenient mid-season break. These days he is the key component in their attack.

Three of his four victims were foxed by the googly including Michael Carberry, whose 43 included six fours, and Mascerenhas off successive deliveries.

Benham survived the hat-trick ball but chipped a catch to mid-wicket in Mushtaq's final over and it was left to Lamb to guide Hampshire to a competitive total with an unbeaten 55.

A crowd of bout 4,500 was perhaps not as many as Sussex had hoped and snatches of Pigbag, Queen and Dolly Parton from the sound system between overs did not seem quite in keeping with the tranquil surrounds.

But the punters went home happy enough. Sussex have developed a good habit of winning one-day games from unfavourable positions and if they can get a positive result against Essex under the Chelmsford floodlights tonight they will fancy their chances of improving what is a fairly ordinary record in Twenty20 cricket.