Warwickshire 267 (79.4 overs) and 154-5 (48 overs)
Sussex 204 (50.3 overs)
Warwickshire lead by 217 with five wickets remaining
Warwickshire moved into a strong position on the second day of a low-scoring match when they dismissed Sussex for 204 to take a first innings lead of 63.
Sussex made a strong start to their first innings but then lost eight wickets for 72 runs before a ninth-wicket partnership of 66 between captain Ollie Robinson and Jack Carson brought a partial recovery.
In their second innings, Warwickshire scored 154-5 to extend their advantage to 217 runs by the close.
There was no sign of the mayhem to follow in the Sussex innings as openers Tom Haines and Dan Hughes added 58 for the first wicket at more than four an over, with both left-handers making the most of some indifferent Warwickshire bowling.
But Sussex were undone by a combination of a sporting wicket, some improved bowling, a couple of marginal umpiring decisions and poor strokes from Haines, James Coles and John Simpson.
Haines was bowled by Ethan Bamber playing a crooked drive in the 14th over although the ball came in from the bowler’s position wide on the crease.
The wicket precipitated a collapse in which Sussex lost five wickets for 25 runs in six overs. Tom Clark was out to the third delivery he faced, trying to turn a ball to leg and getting a leading edge to mid-off.
And it was 78-3 when Coles, who had already offered a sharp chance to midwicket on eight, was caught at second slip trying to drive a ball that was too short for the purpose. He had scored 11 off 12 deliveries.
Without addition, Hughes was LBW to Michael Booth for a 52-ball 30 although the ball may have pitched a fraction outside leg stump.
John Simpson, so often a man in a crisis, had made just five when he played a loose drive and was caught behind, leaving the hosts on 83-5.
Jack Leaning, desperate for a score after a double failure on his debut at Leicester in the previous match, made a careful 14 off 28 balls but was caught at first slip off Jordan Thompson.
And when Tom Price was judged to be just in front to one from Chris Woakes, Sussex’s score of 115-7 was a little like Warwickshire’s 117-6 the previous day.
At tea Sussex were 130-7. And Hudson-Prentice was caught behind off the first ball after the break.
But skipper Robinson and Carson, who both made 39, then batted for 15 overs to help Sussex top 200.
When Warwickshire batted again, they lost four quick wickets, three of them to Hudson-Prentice, who again bowled well and was on a hat-trick when he dismissed Dan Mousley and Sam Hain with successive deliveries.
At that stage, with Warwickshire leading by just 88 runs, the match was in the balance. But Rob Yates and captain Ed Barnard moved the visitors ahead with a solid fifth-wicket stand of 81 in 21 overs.
The stand came to an end when Coles came on and Barnard jumped down the wicket to his second delivery and slogged him to mid-on.
He looked crestfallen, holding his bat above his head. But Yates remained to push Warwickshire’s lead to over 200 with a season’s best unbeaten 75.
Bamber, who took 3-57, said: “It’s a fast-moving game. The pitch has looked dry with not much grass on it but there has been enough in it all the way through.
“They bowled really, really well and Fynn Hudson-Prentice in particular was outstanding. And likewise we felt a lot was happening with the ball when we bowled. There’s enough in there.
“It was nice to get two quick wickets quickly. It’s always handy when you get a caught at mid-on. They’re a dynamic opening partnership and they put us under pressure at the start. But we bowled really well as a unit.
“Rob Yates is a fantastic player and a fantastic person. He’s a very mature man. That was a much-needed innings. We have people who keep standing up. Hopefully, he can continue tomorrow.”
Sussex coach Paul Farbrace said: “It’s a good game of cricket, a good pitch, a little bit in it for everybody.
“If you hit your line and length hard, there’s been some movement. Equally, if you miss your line and length, you go for four very quickly.
“There have been some stand-out innings. Rob Yates played brilliantly in the second innings. We had them 25-4 with some decent bowling.
“What I’ve been impressed with is how well we’ve bowled at the start of each innings. There was a little spell yesterday when Kai Smith and Chris Woakes got together and we bowled a bit both sides of the wicket. But other than that we did really, really well.
“We got off to a great start today but Warwickshire have got a very good team. They’ve got a lot of high-quality seamers and batting all the way down.
“If we’ve got ambitions to finish in the top two of the Championship, they’re the sort of teams we’ve got to play against.”
