Rothesay County Championship, Division One, County Floor, Hove (day two)
Nottinghamshire 240: Hutton 60; Unadkat 4-83
Sussex 308-6: Clark 89, Value 56*; Hutton 2-53, Stone 2-61
Sussex (5 pts) lead Nottinghamshire (2 pts) by 68 runs
Tom Clark’s 89 and fifties from Charlie Tear and Tom Value pissed off title-chasing Nottinghamshire on the second day at Hove.
After Notts had been dismissed for 240 it was Sussex who picked up the one batting level thus far on this spherical of Division One matches as they responded with 308-6, thanks in the primary to a century stand for the third wicket between Clark and Tear, plus Value’s unbeaten 56.
For Notts, it was a irritating day. Whereas title rivals Warwickshire had been beating Essex in two days at Chelmsford and Somerset made progress of their sport towards Yorkshire, they’ve solely picked up two bonus factors thus far.
And Sussex may have been in a fair higher place had there not been just a few mushy dismissals of their prime order.
Clark gave away his wicket on 89 when he slashed at a protracted hop effectively exterior off stump from Brett Hutton and regarded mortified because the ball crashed into his stumps off a thick inside edge, however the left-hander’s glorious stand of 132 in 33 overs with Tear helped form the day.
Pitches at Hove are usually at their greatest for batting on days two and three and so they have given themselves the chance to construct an honest lead and put the champions underneath stress.
Replying to 240, Sussex openers Tom Haines and George Thomas made a strong begin and Haines was quickly into his stride with successive fours via the covers off Indian seamer Mukesh Kumar.
However the Sussex captain was responsible of a preventable dismissal when he flicked a size ball from Olly Stone to mid-wicket the place Ben Slater held an excellent diving catch.
It was 35-2 when Thomas performed throughout a straight one from Tom Giles which swung a contact, however for the following 33 overs Clark and Tear prospered.
Tear took successive boundaries off Stone to convey up the century partnership and Clark nonchalantly flicked Giles off his legs for a six to take him to his fifth fifty of an injury-ravaged season.
Tear drove Kumar via the covers to lift the hundred stand and whereas he was content material to absorb stress at one finish, Clark continued to assault fluently, hitting 11 fours.
However with a century there for the taking he gave it away considerably and when Oli Carter was additionally out cheaply, flicking Stone to mid-wicket, Nottinghamshire sensed a chance.
Tear spent 20 minutes on 49 earlier than taking a single off Liam Patterson-White to achieve his second successive Championship fifty after lodging a career-best 89 towards Surrey final week.
However nearly instantly he was bowled by an outstanding supply by the left-arm spinner which turned sharply from a leg-stump line to hit center and off.
Sussex nonetheless trailed by 42 at that stage however John Simpson and Value steadied issues down, though wicketkeeper Mitch Hay missed a stumping probability which reprieved Simpson on 31 off Patterson-White when Sussex had been nonetheless in arrears.
The lead was 18 and the sixth-wicket stand value 60 when Hutton went large of the crease to angle one via Simpson’s defences however Value progressed to his fifty and took his facet previous 300 – and a second batting level – with successive boundaries as he and Jack Carson noticed Sussex via to stumps, though Carson was badly missed by Hay on 27.
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