Sussex 204 (52.4 overs)
Essex 152-4 (43 overs)
Essex produced an opening day performance against Sussex which belied their disappointing season to date, bottom but one of the championship’s first division, with just one victory.
They bundled out Sussex – third in the table – for just 204 in only 52.4 overs and at the close were powerfully placed at 152 for four.
Essex’s inability to pair up their opening attack of Jamie Porter and Sam Cook has been a major factor in their poor campaign.
Cook has been involved with the England set-up and Porter, on paternity leave, missed the last championship match against Yorkshire.
Here, though, they were back in tandem, both hitting a length on a relentless line of third or fourth stump and Porter, with four for 30, was the star of the show.
Sussex, though, knowing the Kookaburra ball gets softer, and batting easier, showed a lack of application.
Essex won the toss and bowled on a grassy pitch, with a canopy of clouds also promising to assist their seamers.
Sussex, who had dropped Tom Clark for the fit-again Tom Alsop, and brought in Ari Karvelas for the rested Ollie Robinson, struggled to overcome the conditions but were also guilty of some indulgent strokeplay.
Porter broke through in the ninth over when Daniel Hughes, going for a lavish drive, edged to keeper Michael Pepper. And it was 31 for two in the next over when Alsop, playing forward defensively, edged Cook behind.
The relatively inexperienced Khaleel Ahmed replaced Cook at the sea end but there was no let-up for Sussex.
Khaleel pitched one up to Tom Haines who went for the drive. But the ball nipped off the pitch and Simon Harmer took the catch at second slip.
And it was 64 for 4 in the 18th over when Dan Ibrahim attempted an expansive drive against the same bowler and was caught behind. The players took an early lunch at 69 for four when a second, heavier shower swept over the ground.
The in-form James Coles and John Simpson launched a mini-revival with a stand of 56. Coles showed some of the fluency that had brought him 150 against Warwickshire in his previous championship innings.
When he played Cook to backward point for a quick single he had reached his half-century from 62 balls, with seven eye-catching fours.
But then he played forward to Porter and edged to first slip, and four balls later Fynn Hudson-Prentice nicked off for a duck.
Yet again Simpson was required to make the most of diminishing resources. He added 49 for the seventh wicket with Jack Carson, whose five fours included a straight drive off Noah Thain that might have been the shot of the day.
The introduction of fourth seamer Thain saw the first drop in the keen accuracy of the Essex attack. But he, too, was good enough to get among the wickets.
Carson had made 25 when he edged to Pepper and next ball it was 169 for eight when Simpson prodded only half-forward to Harmer and was caught at slip.
When Karvelas flayed to cover for one Sussex had lost three wickets for two runs but last pair Henry Crocombe and Gurinder Sandhu put on 33.
When Essex batted Dean Elgar was caught at midwicket, Paul Walter, half forward, was lbw to Carson, Tom Westley was yorked by Sandhu and nightwatchman Cook was caught at leg slip. But they could still be in a very strong position by the second afternoon.
Sussex bowling coach James Kirtley said: “We’re a bit disappointed, to be honest. We thought we had made a good start, the first 30 minutes or so, and we thought we could get on top and set the tone having been sent into bat.
“And then we found ourselves four wickets down quite quickly. There were a couple of interruptions.
“But we talked about starting games better and that was another example where we didn’t quite get it right. And then we had to battle hard to stay in the game.
“There were a couple of good balls in there and a couple of shots where the batsmen could have been more disciplined. But there are wickets to be had and we’ve got to be disciplined when we come back in the morning.”
Essex’s Jamie Porter said: “We’ve given ourselves a great opportunity in the game. If we can bat well tomorrow, and I think the pitch is going to get better over the next day or day and a half at least, we could find ourselves in a good position.
“There was a bit of rain around this morning and a bit of moisture in the wicket and a lot of grass on it so we felt our best chance was to bowl first.
“I thought Sam bowled well and it was great to see him back. The one thing we did well was to follow one wicket with another. If you can take wickets in clusters, you can really put the opposition under pressure.”
