Sussex 588-9 (Alsop 150, Carter 75, Rawlins 75) and 220-1d (Orr 106 not out), Leicestershire 756-4d (Ackermann 277 not out, Mulder 235 not out, Kimber 104). Match drawn.
Leicestershire are still looking for their first win of the season in the second division of the LV= Insurance County Championship but they had one of their most memorable days in their drawn match against Sussex at Hove
They scored 756 for four, as their South African pair Colin Ackermann (277 not out) and Wiaan Mulder (235 not out) both made maiden double centuries.
It was the highest innings in their first-class history, beating the 701 for four declared that they scored at Worcester in 1906.
The unbroken fifth wicket partnership of 477 was also a record for any wicket for the county and a championship record for the fifth wicket.
Ackermann looked capable of setting a new individual record for the county, beating the 309 not out made by his near-namesake HD Ackerman against Glamorgan at Cardiff in 2006.
The records made less happy reading for Sussex. This was the most runs ever scored against them, beating the 726 they leaked at Nottingham in 1895. This was also the highest innings scored in 150 years of cricket at Hove.
But when Leicestershire declared at lunch, setting Sussex 168 runs to avoid an innings defeat, the home side played positively, as Ali Orr and Tom Clark put on 79 for the first wicket.
Sussex went on to make 220 for one, with Orr making an unbeaten 106, the third century of his career and his second in as many matches, while Tom Alsop finished with 60 not out as he topped 200 runs for the game.
Leicestershire started the fourth day on 529-4, still 59 runs behind, but astonishingly they scored 227 runs in the session.
The batsmen showed their intent when they scored 52 in the first half-hour. When Ackermann swept Rawlins for a single Leicestershire were in the lead after just 37 minutes play.
Then Ackermann pulled Sean Hunt backward of square to reach his double hundred. His previous best was 196. Mulden, whose previous highest was 146, thrashed Henry Crocombe through the covers for four to raise the 400 stand, only the second in Leicestershire’s history.
Sussex played into their hands to a certain extent by bowling their overs at 17 an hour. Rawlins was the most expensive of them, with figures of 0-223 – another championship record. But Ackermann and Mulder were magnificent, hugging each other as they reached their bigger landmarks.
The pitch was the biggest winner, with just 14 wickets falling in four uninterrupted days.
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Sussex coach Ian Salisbury said: “Beautiful weather, beautiful to be back at Hove, beautiful batting track and a hard-fought game. I thought we batted excellent in the first innings.
“To score that amount of runs is a true reflection of where some of our batters are getting to. These are the wickets we want to play on.
“English cricket want to produce cricketers. If you can learn to bowl on this wicket, you will end up playing test match cricket.
“I can see the progress and the influence Puj has had on our batters. If you get a score of 588, you would have thought Pujara would have scored a large majority of those. And also we lost Tom Haines, unfortunately, which is the one bad part of this game.
“But I genuinely believe if we keep playing on wickets like this, our bowlers will learn to bowl on them. I would have played Archie (Lenham) if he had not had covid. We would have gone with a three-spinner attack.”
Leicestershire captain Callum Parkinson said: “It was a long day and a really good pitch. What Colin and Wiaan achieved was nothing short of extraordinary.
“To have the patience and desire to bat that length of time, the concentration, the level of skill, was magnificent. They were amazing efforts and I’m very proud of them.”
