Sussex seize initiative on day one

Sussex 170 for 0 v Derbyshire 242
Scorecard

Sussex's promotion push gathered momentum at Horsham after they dismissed Derbyshire for 242 on the first day of their County Championship Division Two tussle. Derbyshire's score represented something of a recovery from the pre-lunch horrors of 96 for 6 but conditions were put into perspective by Sussex openers Chris Nash and Ed Joyce in the final session.

They compiled Sussex's first century stand for the first wicket since the final game of last season as Derbyshire's six-man attack struggled even to create opportunities. Nash, on his home ground, will resume on 81 and Joyce on 69 with Sussex 170 without loss from 35 overs.

Greg Smith, captaining Derbyshire for the first time following Chris Rogers' decision to step down, had no hesitation in batting first even though Rogers, who has scored 1,040 Championship runs this season, missed out because of tonsilitis. Paul Borrington was summoned from a second-team game and flew to Gatwick from Manchester to replace him, but by the time he arrived at lunch Derbyshire's top order had been swept away by Sussex's experienced attack.

Corey Collymore took his Championship tally to 47 wickets when he removed Wayne Madsen and Chesney Hughes in his new-ball spell, and the pressure was maintained by Luke Wright who marked his return after a knee problem with wickets in successive overs. Smith was caught behind off an inside edge and Dan Redfern pushed at one angled across him.

Monty Panesar then picked up two wickets as Robin Peterson's aggressive drive was taken at midwicket and Jon Clare was caught behind as he pushed forward. At the other end Wes Durston, who had taken a hundred off Sussex playing for ECB Unicorns in May, held firm before launching a counter-attack after lunch during a stand of 102 in 21 overs with wicketkeeper Steve Adshead.

Sussex briefly lost their discipline and it was only when Yasir Arafat returned that the flow of runs was stemmed as the Pakistani reverse-swung the old ball to pick up three of the last four wickets. Durston was yorked for 69 with 12 fours and Adshead played across a straight one in sight of his half-century, having hit 10 boundaries.

Steffan Jones made a belligerent 39 but ran out of partners when Borrington, who came in at the fall of the eighth wicket, was caught at slip playing back to Panesar and Mark Footitt was yorked by Arafat.