Nottinghamshire 300 (68.3 overs)
Sussex 169 (59 overs) and 195-7 (64 overs)
Sussex lead by 64 runs with three wickets remaining
Sussex will need a supreme effort to avoid a three-day defeat as Division One leaders Nottinghamshire look to complete a second win in four matches in a strong start to the Rothesay County Championship season.
Last season’s Division Two champions came into this match level on points with the Trent Bridge side but at 195-7 in their second innings ended a day of fluctuating fortunes with a lead of just 64.
Nottinghamshire led by 131 on first innings, having slipped from 164- overnight to 210-8 before Liam Patterson-White (42) and Josh Tongue (39 not out) helped them recover to 300 all out after skipper Haseeb Hameed’s fine 85 earlier.
Ollie Robinson and Jayden Seales led the Sussex bowling with four wickets each, with England’s Robinson the pick of the two.
Sussex reached 89 without loss in their second innings before a collapse saw them lose five wickets for 36 runs.
Tom Haines made 64 but until skipper John Simpson (35 not out) put up late resistance, it was a batting effort from the south coast side to match their disappointing showing in the first innings.
Australian Fergus O’Neill, whose four-match stint with Nottinghamshire ends with this match, has three for 60.
Three down for 164 overnight, just five in arrears, Nottinghamshire looked well placed to establish a good first-innings lead and ultimately did so, if by a roundabout route.
The first hour, with the ball nipping around under an overcast sky, saw them lose five wickets for 46 runs as Robinson and West Indies Test quick Seales inflicted the kind of damage that Josh Tongue and Brett Hutton had dished out to Sussex on day one.
Seales, short of his best on the opening day, dismissed Jack Haynes with his first ball via a thin edge to the wicketkeeper, quickly backing that up as Kyle Verreynne edged to third slip.
Robinson then removed Hameed with a ball that was too good for the Nottinghamshire captain, before sending O’Neill on his way for a duck via a catch at second slip. Seales dismissed Hutton, again taken at second.
Yet the second half of the morning swung towards Nottinghamshire as Tongue joined Patterson-White in a stand that combined doggedness with aggression to add 71 in 12 and a half overs.
Back for a second spell after bowling eight overs at the start, Robinson finally saw off Patterson-White via another slip catch.
Off-spinner Jack Carson prised out the final wicket, but not before Nottinghamshire had picked up a second batting bonus point as well as what looked like a handy advantage.
After a delayed lunch was taken between innings, Sussex went on the front foot to profitable effect, slashing 89 runs off the arrears without loss in 22 overs. Hutton, meanwhile, had suffered an injury scare that put him out of the attack until late in the evening session.
An uppercut for six by Haines off Tongue took the Sussex opener to 53 from 66 balls and simultaneously to 500 runs for the season, the first in the country to reach that milestone. But what was shaping up as a good comeback by the visitors stalled badly with three wickets in six overs shortly before tea.
Off-spinning prodigy Farhan Ahmed struck the first blow as Daniel Hughes, stepping back to cut, nicked to wicketkeeper Verreynne, and was celebrating again shortly afterwards as Tom Clark was leg before sweeping.
O’Neill picked up his first wicket of the contest, pinning Tom Alsop squarely in front as Sussex limped to tea three down and still 25 behind.
Worse was to come almost immediately after the break as Haines, who had taken a blow on the helmet facing Tongue but appeared none the worse, fell victim on 64 to a stunning, instinctive catch by O’Neill, grabbing the ball one-handed in his follow-through.
O’Neill picked up a third wicket via another excellent catch, this time by Ben Duckett at second slip.
At 125-5, Sussex were in big trouble. They suffered more blows as Tongue had James Coles leg before and Patterson-White bowled Fynn Hudson-Prentice but will at least require Nottinghamshire to bat again.
Ollie Robinson, who took four for 94, said: “The way we bowled this morning got us back into the game a little bit.
“The partnership they put together for the ninth wicket was not ideal but to get them out for 300 after they were 167-3 was a good effort.
“And if we can add another 80 to 100 tomorrow, it will make for a tricky chase. If we can get 150 or so ahead, I genuinely think we are in with a sniff.
“You have to bat positively on this pitch because there can always be a ball with your name on it but if you bowl straight and bowl well it is very hard to score. They have probably bowled a bit better than us if I’m honest, which is why the game is where it is.
“I’ve had a winter which has allowed me to get a bit stronger and fitter which has allowed me to bowl longer spells.
“Obviously, I’d love to play international cricket again and I hope that by bowling these longer spells I can prove I can still do that. I’d just like to put my name back in the hat really.”
Nottinghamshire assistant head coach Paul Franks said: “It is a pitch where good bowlers thrive on it and partnerships have been at a premium.
“The runs we were able to add at the end of the innings could be really valuable and I think 300 was a good score.
The ball has dominated the bat all game, really, as it has all season here, but this time there have been more nicks going to hand.
“On the whole we are happy with where we are in the game but by no means taking anything for granted. I think we gained control again after they had made a good start in the second innings.
“But it is important that we get these last wickets quickly, to win that crucial first hour especially, because if they build up a lead they have got bowlers in Robinson and Seales who can cause some damage.”
“Brett (Hutton) is suffering from a cramp and neural thing at the moment. We don’t think it is anything serious but it has reared its head a couple of times so it is something we need to be a little bit aware of.
“Josh Tongue felt a bit of discomfort too after getting hit on the shoulder batting. At the end of this game, after playing a number of games back to back, we are going to have to stock on the physicality of our bowlers.”
