England fast bowler Ollie Robinson took four wickets on his return to competitive action as Sussex bowled out Division Two leaders Nottinghamshire for 240.
But Sussex sank to 49 for five in reply at Trent Bridge before closing on 94 for five on an eventful opening day of their latest LV= Insurance County Championship match.
Robinson, whose problems in recent months have included a bout of covid, a tooth infection and food poisoning in addition to a persistent back injury, dismissed the first four names on the Nottinghamshire scorecard to finish with four for 44 from 16 overs in his first appearance since May.
He produced two particularly high-quality deliveries to bowl openers Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater, albeit 89 runs apart.
The latter made 55 as one of two Nottinghamshire players to post half-centuries in an otherwise largely miserable-looking scorecard in which skipper Steven Mullaney’s 70 was vital in giving the innings some substance.
James Pattinson added a useful 39 batting at nine before taking three wickets in his principal role as spearhead of the Nottinghamshire attack.
Much responsibility will rest with Cheteshwar Pujara, captaining the visitors, to build on his 34 not out if Sussex are to claim any advantage tomorrow.
The Indian Test star needed checking over late in the day though after being struck on the helmet by a ball from Dane Paterson.
After Sussex won the toss and made the home side bat first on a wicket with a good covering of grass, Robinson quickly put Nottinghamshire on the back foot, dismissing Hameed with his 12th delivery.
Hameed fell four short of a maiden 200 against Derbyshire last week but went for just five this time, offering no shot to a ball that came back a long way to clip his off stump.
Slater put early runs on the board as a fast outfield added value to any attacking shot, particularly with a short boundary on the Bridgford Road side.
But he lost partners in Robinson’s fourth and fifth overs as Ben Duckett clipped one straight to backward square leg and Joe Clarke nibbled outside off stump to be caught behind at 41 for three.
Nottinghamshire went to lunch at 87 for four after Lyndon James was caught at second slip off seamer Ari Karvelas for seven, having been dropped by the same fielder on the same score in the previous Karvelas over.
Back after lunch, Robinson struck another blow by removing Slater for 55 with the ball of the day, pitching on middle and hitting the top of off.
Tom Moores flailed at a wide loosener from 20-year-old left-armer Sean Hunt to be caught behind and Liam Patterson-White nicked a loose drive to second slip off Karvelas as Nottinghamshire slipped to 152 for seven.
Mullaney was dropped at second slip on 26 and by the keeper on 53 but made the most of his opportunities otherwise, hitting eight fours and two sixes, helping Pattinson add 65 for the eighth wicket.
After Pattinson nicked one behind, the last two wickets fell quickly. Left-armer Brad Currie, who took six for 93 on his debut at Lord’s last week, picked up the final three.
Mullaney was perhaps unlucky to be given leg before to the left-armer coming round the wicket before Paterson was caught behind off an inside edge.
Nottinghamshire missed out on a second batting bonus point but in the context of the match their 240 began to look a decent effort as Sussex stumbled to 49 for five.
Pattinson pinned Tom Clark leg before, Paterson produced a beauty to beat Fynn Hudson-Prentice’s defensive push on his return from a stress fracture and then Pattinson took two in five balls, ending Ali Orr’s good start with a ball to match Paterson’s and squaring up Oli Carter for another lbw.
Paterson then drew an edge to second slip from James Coles to leave Sussex with half their wickets gone and still 191 behind, but Pujara and Archie Lenham survived the last 18 overs to cut that deficit to 146.
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Ollie Robinson said: “I had an injection and it took about 10 days to feel fully settled. I started my rehab slowly with a bit of gym work but two and a half weeks in I started bowling and could tell straight away it felt better.
“I would have liked to have bowled in a Second XI game but the fixtures just didn’t allow that, but last week I bowled 30 overs, the week before 24 and the week before that 18. So I was able to come into this match feeling I could give 100 per cent.
“I felt a bit rusty as I suppose after a few months it is going to be, but the ball came out ok.
“I’ve had a few conversations with the England coaches and said that I wanted to bowl as many overs as were needed by the team, with no restrictions, and they have allowed me to play this game to 100 per cent.
“I’m hoping to play in a Lions game early next month after which the South Africa series comes up pretty quickly after that, so I’m hoping that with a couple of good games I can be back in the mix.”
On the match position, he said: “We started really well but probably didn’t capitalise as much as we would have liked. We could have been a bit sharper all round, with catching and everything, and had them 200 or maybe even 180 all out.”
Nottinghamshire’s Ben Slater said: “Getting them five down in that last session, we’ll take that. And hopefully with a bit of cloud cover tomorrow morning as it was today we can make the most of that.
“After losing the toss in what were favourable bowling conditions for them, we felt we put a good score on the board. They bowled well but we felt we have given our bowlers something to bowl at.
“I felt I had to play positively. The way the wickets are here, last season if not so much this year, we know that they do a bit so it is important to put away the bad balls and put the bowlers under a bit of pressure.
“Mull played really well and Jimmy Pattinson’s knock at the end there was important. Any runs you can get here from number eight down can be invaluable later on in the game.
“And we know the quality we have got in this bowling attack and they showed it in this last session. It is nice for our bowlers here to get on a wicket that can give them a bit back.”
