Lancashire have bemoaned the weather as the cause of their Championship woes for half a century or more, and for a while yesterday, as drizzle descended on Hove, it appeared that the weather might haunt them again. In the end it relented, which gave Lancashire time enough to knock off the 107 runs they needed for victory and, glory be, time enough for Andrew Flintoff to spend some valuable time at the crease.

Flintoff, promoted to No 4, finally reacquainted himself with his old friend Madame Chance, who had gone missing for a while. He might have been dismissed at any time, surviving a confident appeal for caught behind on two, a dropped catch at third slip on 18 and any number of swishes and swipes and close calls. But the longer that he stayed at the crease, the better he played and he finished the game with a flurry of strokes which reminded observers of better times. Both Robin Martin-Jenkins and Corey Collymore felt the force of the Flintoff blade, dispatched back over their heads for mighty sixes. He finished unbeaten on 62 off just 59 balls.

The victory was no less than Lancashire deserved. Captained superbly by Stuart Law, they look a team that can make a real challenge for the Championship this year. Much depends on the fitness of their seam attack and how much they lose Flintoff to England.

Sussex, for their part, carry the look of ageing champions. It is impossible to write off a team that have won three Championships in the past five years, but, on this evidence at least, they won’t be adding to their tally. Mushtaq Ahmed, such a key player in recent seasons, looks on his last legs and shorn of him the attack has a pedestrian and ordinary look.

The key to the day for Lancashire was to wrap up the Sussex innings swiftly. They did so, taking the last four wickets in 50 minutes. The wickets were shared between Sajid Mahmood and Glen Chapple, who took nine wickets between them in the innings. Chapple took the key wicket of Murray Goodwin, caught behind down the leg side for 80, and finished with career-best figures against Sussex of 6 for 58. On the blandest of pitches this represented a magnificent effort.

Scoreboard

Sussex: First Innings 253 (R S C Martin-Jenkins 70; S I Mahmood 5 for 76)

Second Innings (overnight 223-6)
M W Goodwin c Sutton b Chapple 80
O P Rayner c Vincent b Mahmood 10
Mushtaq Ahmed b Chapple 0
C D Collymore not out 1
J D Lewry b Mahmood 8
Extras (b 6, lb 3, w 4, nb 4) 17

Total (99.5 overs) 245

Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-80, 3-89, 4-150, 5-177, 6-197, 7-232, 8-236, 9-236.

Bowling: Chapple 26-10-58-6; Mahmood 15.5-4-51-3; Flintoff 19-5-43-0; Keedy 31-10-66-0; Du Plessis 8-1-18-1.

Lancashire: First Innings 392 (S G Law 158 not out, G Keedy 64)

Second Innings
L Vincent c Prior b Lewry 5
P J Horton not out 38
M B Loye lbw b Lewry 4
A Flintoff not out 62

Total (2 wkts, 23.5 overs) 109

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-16.

Bowling: Lewry 7-1-34-2; Collymore 10-3-24-0; Martin-Jenkins 3-0-25-0; Rayner 2-0-8-0; Yardy 1.5-0-18-0.

Umpires: R T Robinson and G Sharp.

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