Since the County Championship was split into two divisions in 2000 Somerset and Sussex have spent far more time in the top division than out of it but both are in a relegation scrap.
The Sussex captain, Ed Joyce, who returned to the side after a neck injury, won the toss and made what seemed to be a slightly surprising choice to bat first on a day that appeared to suit the bowlers and, when his side subsided to 171 for six, he may have questioned whether it was the right decision.
He finished the day relieved thanks to an unbeaten seventh-wicket partnership of 132 in 29 overs that put the pressure back on Somerset; pressure they failed to deal with.
After a delayed start Luke Wells was the first man to depart in the eighth over, edging a full ball to Marcus Trescothick who caught it at the second time of asking at second slip. This brought Matt Machan to the crease to play a typical Machan innings. He made a good-looking 20 before the tamest of dismissals by loosely driving outside off stump to extra cover a few minutes before lunch. The silence from the balcony as he walked off was deafening.
Despite the good pitch batting after the interval never looked comfortable and it did not take long before Chris Nash was undone by Peter Trego. Then, on the stroke of tea, Joyce, who had been unsettled by the extra pace and bounce of Jamie Overton, feathered down the leg side and was out for 83. It had been a mixed innings. He had been dropped on 23 and then played and missed on a number of occasions but it also contained some back-foot cuts and drives that were Joyce at his very best. He has had a quiet season by his own standards averaging just over 30 in the 12 matches he has played – a stark contrast to last season when he scored eight centuries and made nearly 1,400 runs.
Straight after tea Ben Brown was dismissed in bizarre fashion, caught at short extra cover off a thigh-high full toss from the spinner Jack Leach.
Having got Sussex six down and in trouble, Somerset were guilty of taking their foot off the accelerator. The bowlers lost control and Trescothick was too quick to go on the defence as the counterattacking partnership between Ashar Zaidi and Michael Yardy saw the home side past 200 and then 250 and onwards to 300, picking up three potentially important batting bonus points.
This is Yardy’s farewell appearance at Hove and through a series of well-timed sweeps and drives he scored a pleasing 50th fifty for Sussex in the championship. There is tremendous affection for him across the county circuit and he was applauded all the way to the crease by spectators and some of the Somerset team.
