He was 44 when play began, and scored steadily against a tight line and a swinging ball while doing nothing rash, although two fours from Tim Murtagh’s first over had a salutory impact on the scoring rate. Ward was dropped by Ian Salisbury at third slip on 74, but he was as astonished as anyone in the scattered crowd when he played back to Murtagh, missed, and was lbw for 82. He banged his bat on the turf and walked slowly back to the pavilion. Surrey’s members applauded generously, though he was so cross he might not have noticed.Adams, who has recovered from an operation on his elbow which delayed his season’s start, stayed put It was not one of his flashy innings. He played as if he knew that, without a big score from him, Sussex could be in trouble. There was no shortage of boundaries – his hundred came up with his 17th four – but the impressive thing was accumulation rather than style. He was lbw to Murtagh the ball after reaching three figures, but Sussex were in the lead by then He had done the job.

Jon Batty, Surrey’s brand new wicketkeeper-batsman-captain, was in charge for the first time. Both were anxious to make a mark.Ward did, although it was not as long or as deep as he would have wished. Ian Ward, who must have hoped to succeed as captain of Surrey before he decamped to Sussex, was looking for a significant hundred. The few orange-jacketed workmen who stayed on after they knocked off at 12.30pm could be forgiven if they nodded off.The cricket was often dour, but there was plenty at stake, and Sussex finally came out well ahead on points, principally because of a timely captain’s hundred from Chris Adams and a cheerful, wagging tail which gave them a first-innings lead of 141.This was the Young Pretenders against the New Contenders, the latter anxious to prove – first to themselves – that the climax to last season, when Sussex won their first Championship after Surrey suddenly imploded, was not form for the long-term in the County Championship.A couple of subplots spiced up the performance. But first they must not lose this match and that means runs, lots more of them, because as Hooper demonstrated, a good start is nothing without consolidation..

Everyone worked overtime at The Oval yesterday. Surrey’s fast men; Sussex’s middle order, and Taylor Woodrow

Everyone worked overtime at The Oval yesterday. Their bowlers were not disgraced -if Ben Phillips, Steffan Jones and the impressive Johann Louw had not adhered so strictly to the disciplines of line and length, the score would have been much greater.And with both off-spinners, Graeme Swann and Jason Brown getting some turn, they will hope to bowl a few sides out later in the summer. Always an in-to-out hitter, he no longer slices the ball as frequently through the cover point and backward point region because his top hand is more dominant and allows him to present a much fuller face of the bat.Two wonderful extra-cover drives exemplified this and with Roberts today, Afzaal has to mimic Hooper and take responsibility for batting Northamptonshire to safety.If they can, then they will have proved to themselves they can stay up. The two absentees scored over 3,000 runs between them in the Championship last season and they will need replacing. With no other batsman last year reaching the benchmark 1,000 it will demand a team effort.So Roberts reaching his highest first-class score of 85 was timely and encouraging, as is the remedial work by Afzaal. Their efforts ensured they posted an imposing total in excess of 500 and challenged the newly promoted Northamptonshire to compete, which they did, and did well through Tim Roberts and Usman Afzaal.Without Mike Hussey, back in Australia resting, and Phil Jacques, also back in Australia but more likely counting his passports, the Northampton batting line-up looks weak.