Sussex – 262 and 234-5
Leicestershire – 108
Sussex lead by 388 runs with five wickets remaining
Sussex are on course for a second County Championship win of the season after dismissing Leicestershire for just 108 and piling on the runs to lead by 388 at stumps on day two at Hove.
Beginning the day on 68-2, the visitors lost all eight of their remaining wickets in a blistering morning session.
Led by Jaydev Unadkat and Ari Karvelas, the Sussex seam attack ploughed through a shell-shocked Leicestershire, who added just 40 runs to their overnight score.
In reply, opener Tom Clark’s fifth county championship half-century of the season steered the hosts to 234-5 at the close of play.
Despite a sub-par season with the bat, Clark looked imperious, thrashing 10 boundaries on his way to 69 from 160 balls before he was trapped lbw by a full Rehan Ahmed delivery.
The 19-year-old spinner also claimed the wicket of Tom Alsop, who was bowled for a steady 31 by a drifting leg-break.
Tom Haines too made it into the thirties. After a trademark collection of cover drives and cuts, the opener mistimed a pull shot off Chris Wright and was caught at mid-wicket for 34.
Prior to stumps, Tom Scriven took the final two Sussex wickets, as Cheteshwar Pujara was caught behind and Oli Carter stumped in an athlete display by wicketkeeper Ben Cox.
With stumps approaching, a mature 73-ball 43 from James Coles steered Sussex to safety, with Fynn Hudson-Prentice also unbeaten on 15.
In the morning session, the deadly Unadkat bowled Colin Ackermann after just seven minutes of play, before finding the outside edge of Umar Amin, who was caught for a duck by Oli Carter.
Returning at the back end of the innings to dismiss Leicestershire’s last man Matt Salisbury, Unadkat finished with fine figures of 3 for 23 from 12.4 overs.
He was supported admirably by fellow seamer Karvelas.
With one wicket yesterday, the hulking paceman continued the charge, dismissing Rehan Ahmed for nought with a hooping out-swinger which the England man edged to Carter behind the stumps.
One over later, he uprooted Cox’s off stump with a straight delivery which the right hander carelessly left.
Karvelas’s third wicket of the morning and fourth of the match came when, running out of partners, top scorer Rishi Patel slogged a length delivery skyward on 48. Pujara’s excellent diving catch gave the Greek international his 33rd wicket of the season and a terrific return of 4 for 14 from his 12 overs.
Fresh off his 65 yesterday, all-rounder Hudson-Prentice was also in the wickets. Snagging both in the 37th over, he had Tom Scriven caught behind before bowling Chris Wright with a dipping in-swinger.
After the close of play, Unadkat said: “We are on top of the game, but the job’s half done. Hopefully we’re going to be right on top in the third and fourth day as well.
“We started off really well by bowling in the right areas. It wasn’t just about any one bowler, we bowled in the right areas as a collective group and it worked out.
“It’s not a wicket where you could just run through the opposition without being patient or disciplined. There are no great demons in the wicket. It turned out to be pretty flat after the first session.
“After posting some runs, we’re still going to have to be patient and disciplined in our bowling to get another 10 wickets.
“They are a good side who’ve done well this season so I know they’ll be itching to stop us getting the points. It’s going to be a good contest.”
