Sussex 204 (52.4 overs)
Essex 475-9 (113.3 overs)
Essex lead by 271 runs with one first innings wicket remaining
Hundreds by Jordan Cox and Matt Critchley strengthened Essex’s position on the second day against Sussex at Hove.
Cox made 132 and Critchley 123 as Essex reached 475-9 before bad light and rain took 28 overs off the day’s allocation after tea.
Sussex haven’t lost a home game in the County Championship since May 2022 but will be hard-pressed to maintain that record after Essex stretched their lead to 271.
That was largely down to Cox and Critchley, who put on 184 in 43 overs in the first half of the day.
Cox made 139 not out last week against Hampshire in the Vitality Blast and showed similar form against the red ball here, hitting 23 fours in his tenth first-class century – the second fifty of which came off 53 balls.
Sussex’s seam attack struggled in the absence of the rested Ollie Robinson and, with the Kookaburra ball offering little assistance, skipper John Simpson soon adopted a containment strategy by rotating his attack in short spells in search of a breakthrough.
But with a temptingly short boundary on the pavilion side, it was hard to contain Cox and Critchley.
The latter offered only one half-chance on 27 when Gurinder Sandhu got one hand on the ball at long on but couldn’t cling on to a very difficult opportunity.
Cox reached his century by reverse-sweeping Jack Carson to the boundary as 149 runs came before lunch.
Sussex desperately needed to break through with the second new ball and they did so when it was five overs old.
Cox launched into a full-blooded drive at Sandhu and second slip James Coles parried the edge into the air and Tom Alsop dived full length at first slip to take the catch.
Critchley also lodged the tenth first-class hundred of his career, which he reached in the 89th over when he ran a delivery from Ari Karvelas down to third man. As well as 12 fours, he also hit five leg-side sixes in 175 balls.
He departed after a smart piece of work by Fynn Hudson-Prentice at mid on who ran him out with a direct hit after Critchley had been called through for a quick single by Michael Pepper.
When Noah Thain had his middle stump plucked out of the ground by Sandhu with the next ball there was brief respite for Sussex.
Rain and thunderstorms arrived at tea and, when the players returned at 5.50pm, Pepper (44) got a thin edge to the fourth ball after the resumption from Hudson-Prentice.
He then had Khaleel Ahmed caught on the boundary before bad light forced an early close with Essex in control.
Critchley, who made 123, said: “We achieved what we wanted to do yesterday by bowling them out for 200 and then building a lead.
“The weather stopped us pushing on after tea but, overall, it has been a pretty good day.
“Jordan (Cox) played beautifully and the way he was hitting it allowed me to play the way I wanted to and it’s a quick-scoring ground as well so we were able to build a partnership.
“We got our full batting bonus points which was important too. It’s a shame the way I got out but I didn’t slide my bat in which – as a professional cricketer – wasn’t great!”
Sandhu, who took 3 for 113, said: “It’s been a very tough two days. We bowled well in patches but in first-class cricket you need to do that for longer than 20 minutes.
“Cox and Critchley batted well and played to the conditions. There were a couple of nicks which fell short in the morning so that was frustrating. It’s the way the game goes sometimes.
“There is a bit in the pitch for 10 overs with the new ball but after that it’s hard work so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t ball well tomorrow in the second innings.”
