Sussex skipper Tom Haines led from the front with a superb career best century to frustrate Derbyshire on the third day of the LV=Insurance County Championship match at Derby.
The 23-year-old batted through the day for an unbeaten 164 from 289 balls and, with Indian Test batsman Chateshwar Pujara scoring 57 not out, Sussex closed on 278 for 2 after following on 331 behind.
Haines was also given solid support from Ali Orr who shared an opening stand of 128 in 43 overs before he was removed by Sam Conners who was Derbyshire’s most threatening bowler on a flat pitch.
After Tom Alsop was run out, Haines and Pujara combined in an unbroken third wicket stand of 133 to leave Sussex trailing by only 53.
With such a commanding lead, it was no surprise that Derbyshire put Sussex back in but the visitors showed much more application and determination after the first innings capitulation.
Although Orr edged Suranga Lakmal just wide of the slip cordon in the first over, Derbyshire’s bowlers struggled to create openings on a pitch that remains a good one for batting.
When a chance did come, it was not taken as Shan Masood failed to cling on one-handed to what would have been a brilliant catch at leg slip off Alex Thomson when Orr was on 13.
Orr dug in, showing good judgment, while Haines played more aggressively to reach 50 from 67 balls by cutting Lakmal for his eighth four.
The pair survived comfortably through to lunch although Derbyshire eased some of the pressure on the batsmen by not posting more close fielders.
Billy Godleman continued to rotate his attack after the interval in search of the breakthrough which finally came 13 overs into the afternoon session.
Orr had left the ball well so it was a surprise when he was caught in two minds and edged Conners behind after battling for just short of three hours.
The fall of one wicket had sparked a Sussex collapse in the first innings but Tom Alsop was settling in until he was the victim of a poor call from his captain.
Haines pushed the ball towards point and set off for a run but Nick Potts’ throw left Alsop well short of his ground.
It was the last thing Sussex needed but Haines did not allow it to disturb his concentration and he drove Anuj Dal through the covers for his 14th four to complete a fine century, the sixth of his first-class career.
Derbyshire should have removed him on 111 when he cut the left-arm spin of Leus du Plooy to slip but Madsen could not hold on to a sharp chance.
At tea, Sussex had reduced the arrears to 153 and in the final session, Pujara began to time the ball with ominous assurance from a Derbyshire perspective.
Two effortless back-foot drives sent the ball racing to the ropes and Derbyshire’s best hope of breaking through rested on the new ball which was taken 16 overs from the close.
But Haines and Pujara stood firm with the skipper reaching his 150 from 256 balls and Pujara brought up his half century by cutting Potts to the boundary.
Sussex still have a lot of work to do to save the game but this was an impressive response in adversity from a young team.
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Sussex captain Tom Haines said: “I’m tired but very pleased. I’m going to enjoy it for now but we’ve still got a bit of work to do tomorrow.
“I let Puj (Chateshwar Pujara) speak this morning in the huddle. He’s obviously been in this situation many times with India and he just said we’ve got to break each session down into chunks.
“We had confidence. It’s a good wicket and we knew we could trust it. It wasn’t a 174 all out wicket and we knew we didn’t bat well enough in the first innings. We knew we have the batting line up to perform and hopefully we can put that right in this innings and carry on tomorrow.”
Derbyshire fast bowler Sam Conners said: “It is a good pitch and I felt the boys really stuck at it which was the main thing we spoke about this morning.
“We knew it was going to be tough to take 10 wickets again and it’s going to be about just sticking in there again tomorrow.
“The ball is still quite new and when the boys are a bit fresher in the morning we’ll give it a really good go and if we can get a couple of early ones we will be right in this game.”
