Sussex 204 (52.4 overs) and 245-7 (74 overs)
Essex 504 (118 overs)
Sussex trail Essex by 55 runs with three wickets remaining.
James Coles led Sussex’s resistance with an unbeaten 99 but his efforts seem unlikely to deny Essex victory over Sussex at Hove.
Coles was on the verge of a third successive Rothesay County Championship century when rain arrived at 5.20pm and play was abandoned shortly afterwards.
Sussex were 245-7 in their second innings, still trailing by 55 after conceding a first-innings deficit of 300.
Coles is Sussex’s man in form. He made 148 not out at Durham and 150 in Sussex’s last home match against Warwickshire and he top scored in their first innings with 52.
Only five batters have scored more championship runs this season than the 21-year-old and he didn’t offer a chance here after arriving in the seventh over with Sussex 33-2.
While he and Tom Alsop (72) were adding 141 in 72 overs for the third wicket, Sussex harboured hopes of stalling Essex’s push for victory.
But Alsop was lbw to Matt Critchley in the leg-spinner’s second over and after tea Sussex lost four wickets for 26 in 40 balls.
Those coming and going included their leading run scorer John Simpson, calamitously run out going for a second run on an overthrow.
At the start of the day, Essex skipper Simon Harmer clubbed three sixes to reach a half-century before he was last out for 53 as Essex’s first innings ended on 504, a lead of 300.
Essex’s new-ball pair Sam Cook and Jamie Porter soon made inroads. Tom Haines nibbled fatally at Cook’s first ball and edged it to third slip before Porter struck in the seventh over to remove Daniel Hughes, courtesy of a fine low catch at second slip by Harmer.
But from 33-2 Coles and Alsop rebuilt patiently. Alsop’s fourth fifty of the season came off 104 balls and the normally more attacking Coles took 117 deliveries for his.
Neither offered a chance as the Kookaburra ball quickly lost its effectiveness and Essex had to settle for containment.
Having had little success himself, Harmer turned to Critchley in the 47th over and with his first ball he nearly won an lbw verdict against Alsop. But the fourth delivery of his next over straightened enough to beat Alsop’s defensive push. He faced 150 balls and hit nine fours.
Essex had a breakthrough and after tea they rammed home their superiority, aided once again by some pretty poor shot selection by the Sussex middle and lower order.
Dan Ibrahim (19), who’d helped Coles add 48 for the fourth wicket, got a leading edge in the first over after the resumption and Khaleel Ahmed took the catch in his follow through.
Simpson was run out by Sam Cook’s throw as he tried for a second run on an overthrow after a moment’s fatal hesitation between him and Coles.
Critchley then struck in successive overs. Fynn Hudson-Prentice’s mistimed drive was caught well in the covers by Harmer and Jack Carson tamely picked out mid-wicket aiming to hit Critchley over the top.
As the clouds rolled in, Ari Karvelas defied Critchley and Harmer for 33 balls but it would need a lot more resistance from him, Coles and Sussex’s tail to keep Essex at bay on the final day.
Critchley said: “It’s frustrating because the rain has halted our progress two evenings in a row but we’re in a position we would definitely have taken with a day to go.
“In quite a few games this season we’ve been fighting but we got on top in the first session and have stayed on top and produced a complete performance.
“Hopefully, we can finish things off tomorrow. It was nice to break the partnership between two good players in Coles and Alsop and then we built pressure.
“We never really let them get away even when we played well. There was a lot of positive energy out there.”
Alsop said: “It was nice to spend some time out there, especially with Colesy who is batting brilliantly again but the game has not gone the way we wanted it to from day one.
“It’s very difficult to drag yourself back into the game from the position we were in, especially against a team of Essex’s quality.
“We’ve been on the other side of that in a few games this season and we shouldn’t forget that but, against quality teams, once you are behind it’s quite difficult to wrestle it back.”
