Sussex 533 (151.4 overs)
Warwickshire 415 (107.5 overs) and 88-1 (24 overs)
Warwickshire trail Sussex by 30 runs with nine wickets remaining.
James Coles made 150 and there were six wickets for Warwickshire off-spinner Corey Rocchiccioli – but despite their efforts, Sussex’s Rothesay County Championship match against Warwickshire looks to be heading for a draw.
Coles’s second successive Championship hundred helped Sussex to take a first-innings lead of 118 after they ended on 533.
The final two wickets – of Gurinder Sandhu and Henry Crocombe – fell in successive balls 20 minutes after tea on day three.
It left Warwickshire with 24 overs to get through to stumps and they closed on 88-1, losing Rob Yates for 11 when he inside-edged a fine ball from Ollie Robinson on to his middle stump.
Off-spinner Jack Carson nearly broke through late on but Daniel Ibrahim put down a tough chance at short leg to reprieve skipper Alex Davies who has so far added 66 with Tom Latham as Warwickshire closed to 30 runs in arrears.
But the effects of a slow pitch and the Kookaburra ball are likely to ensure a stalemate, especially with some rain in the forecast on the final day.
Coles, 21, made an unbeaten 148 against Durham last week and followed it up with his sixth first-class hundred, sharing stands of 73 with Dan Ibrahim (36), 59 with John Simpson (30) and 50 with Fynn Hudson-Prentice (45). He was sixth out, caught behind via an inside edge off Ethan Bamber.
He had to be patient for long periods. Even without Chris Rushworth, who injured his hamstring after sending down just three overs on the second day, Warwickshire bowled diligently and fielded well.
Coles, unbeaten on 50 overnight, brought up his hundred with an edge to the third boundary just before lunch but it was one of the few unconvincing shots he played in nearly six and a half hours at the crease.
He faced 294 balls, an outstanding effort on another day of sweltering heat at Hove. He hit 19 fours and pulled a six into the pavilion off Oliver Hannon-Dalby.
Warwickshire’s hard work in the field was epitomised by Rocchiccioli, the Western Australian who arrived in England for his first taste of county cricket last month having taken 84 Sheffield Shield wickets since the 2023-24 season.
Here he followed up his six wickets on his debut against Somerset at Edgbaston last week with six more.
Three came on the second day and he had to plug away from the sea end until his 18th over today for further reward when Carson (28) was smartly taken at leg slip.
Rocchiccioli then polished off the innings by removing Sandhu and Crocombe with successive deliveries.
The 328 balls that he sent down was the most in an innings by a Warwickshire bowler since Ashley Giles bowled 68.3 overs against Yorkshire at Headingley in 1996.
He just about had the strength to doff his cap to acknowledge the appreciative applause of the crowd after he’d sent down his 50th over.
Bamber was the pick of Warwickshire’s seam attack, picking up Ibrahim, who played around a straight one, as well as Coles – and there was a wicket apiece for Yates and Ed Barnard.
Coles said: “One of the parts of my game which is a strength is being calm and able to forget things pretty quickly so if I play a bad shot, I can move on.
“The Kookaburra is not helping the seamers much so it makes batting a bit easier.
“Before the Durham game last week I didn’t feel that ready to play red-ball cricket again but, on the back of some decent scores in the Blast, I’ve done well so I’m happy with how it has been going.
“The pitch is showing good signs of spin so I think the final day could be quite exciting. It’s spinning nicely from the sea end and Jack (Carson) bowled nicely at the end.”
Rocchiccioli, who took six wickets for the visitors, said: “It’s nice when you can put a shift in like that and be rewarded.
“I felt I was well supported at the other end and overall as a team we stuck at it during times when nothing much seemed to be happening.
“If I had a dollar for every question I have had about the Kookaburra ball in the last week, I’d be a rich man. The ball is different but it would be the same if we were bowling with the Dukes back home in Australia.
“It can be challenging for bowlers not used to it, around things like reverse swing and when it gets softer after 30 to 40 overs.
“Also we’re in the middle of a dry summer. But I don’t think the ball is that much of an issue in my opinion.”
