HOVE

(Day three of four: Sussex won toss)

Sussex, with eight second innings wickets in hand, need 75 runs to make Yorkshire bat again

Lunch

Chris Nash and Matt Prior led Sussex's battle to make the 250 - and the second bonus point- that would take them clear of both Kent and Yorkshire provided they did not then go on to lose this intriguing match. A band playing merrily in front of well-filled members' seats at the start of the lunch interval was in keeping with the brightness of the weather, but it could not disguise the fact that the home side will still have to show plenty of its renowned character to haul themselves to a position of safety.

Yorkshire's bowling and fielding was keen all morning but Matthew Hoggard bowled two unrewarded spells and his next one -with a ball changed shortly before lunch after going out of shape- will be important. So will the possible threat posed by the Yorkshire spinners although Nash and Prior have moved their feet confidently to Rashid's leg breaks so far.

Nash, not yet capped but still full of potential, not least as a possible future captain, has had a slightly disappointing season but Sussex have maintained their faith in him and he has responded with much more consistent form, and perhaps a tighter defence, in recent weeks. He lost the company only of Murray Goodwin who looked both surprised and disappointed when, going forward to the medium-fast pace of the six foot four inch Steve Patterson he was smartly stumped down the leg side by Gerard Brophy.

Tea

The drama here is, possibly, over in one sense, but not in another. Yorkshire were full of confidence after bowling Sussex out cheaply with 37 overs of the third day left, having turned the game round so admirably yesterday, and enforced the follow-on. Mathematically, the county have opened up the remote possibility that they might not be relegated. If Sussex themselves were to turn this game round, Kent could still climb above them by drawing against the probable champions, Durham. Sussex look unlikely to get a result however, given the careless way in which Matt Prior and Chris Adams gave their wickets away to cuts to point and backward point in successive overs.

The permutations remain plentiful but the fact is that Sussex will follow - on after being bowled out all too meekly between lunch and tea. In view of Kent's even direr straights at Canterbury, however, it looks as though the bonus point that they finally acquired with seven wickets down in the 61st over will keep them in the first division after one of their less distinguished seasons.

They will owe their survival in the final instance to Chris Nash, who showed understandable joy when he reached his first Championship hundred at Hove - and his second in first-class cricket following one picked up at Old Trafford against Lancashire early in August. Picking up the majority of his fours to third-man with deliberate steers - Anthony McGrath was far too slow to turn those boundaries into singles - he also hit the ball well off his legs. His partnership with Luke Wright, who played well with his usual gusto after a streaky start, took Sussex from 129 to six to 193, when Nash pulled David Wainwright's first ball in the air to straight mid-wicket.

200 having been reached at last, Martin-Jenkins was leg before despite taking a giant forward stride to Rashid and Wainwright then claimed a brace of bat/pad dismissals.

Yorkshire now look to Hoggard for new ball dismissals before the 'spin twins' have another chance. Had they batted a second time with a lead of 193 they could have made absolutely certain of staying up but it would be churlish to criticise their more positive approach.

Close

Their two young century-makers, Adil Rashid and David Wainwright, having shared the last four first innings wickets, took another one apiece as next year's captain, Michael Yardy, led a more resolute Sussex batting performance in the final session.

A hook for six off Matthew Hoggard, who posed relatively little threat with the new ball, was the visible sign of greater defiance but a confident opening stand of 88 was ended when Nash, propping forward to a leg-break, was caught at slip. Hopkinson quickly followed, going back to Wainwright.

Yorkshire had had another good day all round but the fact that Kent's all South African sixth wicket pair have taken the match against Durham into the final day means that technically Sussex could still go down by losing tomorrow and Yorkshire too in the highly unlikely event that Sussex gain a suffiicient lead to bowl their opoonents out. If that happened nothing in cricket would ever be predictable again.

A crowd of 3,000 supported Sussex's unusually brittle batting effort today in benign weather. Sunshine has been in short supply all season and it is a long time until next April.