IN A game crammed full of tail-end batting prowess it was Sussex No10 Mushtaq Ahmed who proved the difference between these two sides.

Equalling his career-best of 90 he helped the hosts built a crucial 91-run first innings lead in a surprisingly low-scoring game.

At the mid-point of the match Kent have edged into a slender 53-run lead but, at 144 for three, look likely to slip to a third defeat of a summer that has finished disappointingly.

Renown for his mesmerising wrist spin rather than the culture of his batting, Mushtaq has become the class act with both bat and ball over the opening two days.

The Pakistan Test star hit eight fours and lost a ball with one of his two sixes to move level with his first-class best, scored for Somerset against Sussex 12 years ago.

But, with a maiden century within sight, Kent took the second new ball for Robbie Joseph to snare James Kirtley leg before within four deliveries to dismiss Sussex for 348, just two short of a fourth batting bonus point.

Kirtley scored an enterprising 17 for his part in a last wicket stand with Mushtaq that added 74 in 15 overs.

To make matters worse for Kent they had also been frustrated by Mushtaq’s strokeplay during a ninth-wicket stand with Luke Wright (37) that posted 82 in 19 overs, ensuring the last two Sussex wickets put on 156.

Yet it was by no means late-order slogging, all three played proper cricket shots and none more so than Mushtaq who’s wristy drives were a delight to everyone other than the Kent fielders.

His 105-ball innings also put the game and the Hove pitch into perspective inasmuch that the top-order batsmen on both sides have clearly underachieved on what is a flat, if somewhat slow surface.

As with Kent’s first innings, the home top-order batters were guilty of getting themselves out and it was Min Patel who became Kent’s main recipient of Sussex generosity.

The left-arm spinner bagged five for 81, his third five-wicket haul of a superbly consistent campaign to move three ahead of Amjad Khan in the race to be Kent’s leading wicket-taker with 58 in 16 matches.

Batting again with 36 overs of the second remaining, Kent reached 43 without loss and with no alarm but, with his score on 13, skipper David Fulton steered a short one from Naved Rana to second slip to end his season with just 833 runs at an average of 30.

Matt Walker was promoted to No3 after Martin van Jaarsveld bruised his right calf fielding at short leg and teamed up with Rob Key to add 79 for the second wicket in very good time.

Key, batting freely, hit seven fours to reach his eighth half-century of the campaign from just 60 balls to movie beyond the 1,500-run milestone in the process.

Walker made a willing ally, scoring a trouble-free 33 only to offer a bat-pad chance to Richard Montgomerie at short-leg to end his season on a disappointing note just seven short of his 1,000th run.

In his own inimitable style, Darren Stevens played without fear, unleashing a series of crisp drives that in the main picked out the fielders yet he was still there at the close, unbeaten on 11.

Sadly, Key perished to the penultimate ball of the day, fencing at a Robin Martin-Jenkins lifter he edged to slip to go 16 short of a fifth hundred for 2005.

MARK PENNELL'S DAILY MATCH REPORTS FROM THE GROUND WILL APPEAR HERE AT CLOSE OF PLAY.

SCORECARD

Kent first innings

D P Fulton c Mushtaq b Kirtley 6
R W T Key lbw b Naved 8
M van Jaarsveld c Ambrose b Kirtley 11
M J Walker c Prior b Kirtley 34
D I Stevens c Prior b Naved 26
N J Dexter c Ambrose b Naved 34
N J O’Brien c Adams b Kirtley 61
J C Tredwell lbw b Naved 0
M M Patel c Wright b Mushtaq 51
M J Saggers not out 16
R H Joseph c Adams b Mushtaq 0
Extras 10

Total 257 all out off 78.4 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-16, 2-27, 3-28, 4-80, 5-103, 6-169, 7-169, 8-201, 9-257.

Bowling: Kirtley 19-5-53-4, Naved 20-0-83-4, Martin-Jenkins 7-1-25-0, Mushtaq Ahmed 27.4-5-81-2, Wright 5-0-11-0.

Sussex first innings

C D Hopkinson run out (Patel) 7
R R Montgomerie b Joseph 2
M H Yardy b Patel 43
T R Ambrose lbw b Dexter 44
C J Adams b Patel 41
M J Prior c Joseph b Patel 4
R S C Martin-Jenkins st O’Brien b Tredwell 20
Rana Naved c Fulton b Patel 4
L J Wright c Fulton b Patel 37
Mushtaq Ahmed not out 90
R J Kirtley lbw b Joseph 17
Extras 34

Total 348 all out after 90.4 overs

Fall of wicket: 1-14, 2-14, 3-115, 4-117, 5-154, 6-184, 7-192, 8-192, 9-274.

Bowling: Saggers 18-3-71-0, Joseph 18.5-4-69-2, Tredwell 11-3-38-1, Dexter 11-1-44-1, Stevens 7-0-29-0.

Kent second innings

D P Fulton c Yardy b Naved 13
R W T Key c Prior b Martin-Jenkins 84
M J Walker c Mongomerie b Mushtaq 33
D I Stevens not out 11
Extras 3

Total 144 for three after 35.5.overs.

Fall of wicket: 1-43, 2-122, 3-144.

Bowling: Kirtley 6-0-36-0, Rana Naved 6-2-17-1, Wright 3-0-8-0, Mushtaq Ahmed 12-1-49-1, Yardy 6-1-22-0, Martin-Jenkins 2.5-0-9-1.