Centuries from Dominic Sibley and Adam Thomas led Surrey to their first victory of the season as they beat Sussex by eight wickets.

They went into the Rothesay County Championship clash against Sussex at the Kia Oval on the back of three draws but a hard-fought four days gave the former champions their first taste of success on home soil for almost a year.

It also set them up for this weekend’s clash with Nottinghamshire – winners last year and back on top – at Trent Bridge before a trip to play Yorkshire at Headingley seven days later.

Jordan Clark had carved a hole through the Sussex middle order on day one, his superb spell of five for 16 from seven overs leaving them rocking at 92 for seven on a pitch offering considerably more pace and bounce than in the two previous games at The Oval this season. But Surrey’s depleted attack – rested England speedster Gus Atkinson being joined on the sidelines by injured duo Dan Worrall and Tom Lawes – could make no further inroads as Fynn Hudson-Prentice (53) counter-attacked before Jack Carson (105) and Ollie Robinson (100) enjoyed a rollicking ninth-wicket stand of 173. It broke the previous best for Sussex against their northern neighbours of 160 between KS Ranjitsinhji and Fred Tate at Hastings in 1902.

It was only skipper Robinson’s second first-class century and on reaching it he declared at 358 for nine to give the hosts a tricky few minutes.

Sibley and Rory Burns saw that through and then put Surrey in control with an opening stand of 148 before the latter departed for 77, Ryan Patel cracking 67 on his first appearance of the season after a soft tissue injury to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes last week, Jamie Smith taking over the gloves.

Sibley, having made 101 against Essex a week earlier, moved on relentlessly to 187 from 377 balls over 516 minutes, in the process passing 10,000 first-class runs, strengthening his claims for a recall to the England side.

But the attention was stolen by 19-year-old Thomas, who displayed fine technique and superb temperament in making 120, becoming only the tenth Surrey player to make a century on his first-class debut. In the process, he and Australian all-rounder Sean Abbott (76) added 161 for the eighth wicket, overtaking the 150 between Robin Jackman and Intikhab Alam at The Oval in 1973.

Surrey’s 622 gave them a formidable lead, which looked even better after a dramatic start to Sussex’s second innings. Opener Tom Haines suffered a blow to the head when the first delivery bounced sharply, bowler Matt Fisher then dismissing Tom Clark and James Coles for ducks to leave the visitors nought for two.

Surrey’s hopes of a quick victory on the final day were disappointed, though. Daniel Hughes (39) fell early on but Charlie Tear (61), Carson (48) and Robinson (42) dug in until Fisher and Clark – with three wickets each – finally saw Sussex off for 277.

That left just 14 needed for victory, Surrey losing Burns and Patel but finishing winners by an emphatic margin to take 22 points from the match.

The matches against Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire complete the first stage of the Championship campaign, which then gives way to the Vitality Blast until four-day cricket returns for two matches in June.

By Richard Spiller