Rothesay County Championship Division One, 1st Central County Ground, Hove (day one)
Sussex 294: Hughes 49, Clark 49; Gregory 4-90
Somerset 62-5: Lammonby 24*; Hudson-Prentice 4-13
Sussex 3 pts, Somerset 3 pts
A late burst of wickets from support bowler Fynn Hudson-Prentice gave Sussex an unlikely advantage over Somerset at Hove.
Somerset had already lost Archie Vaughan, well caught by James Coles at third slip off Jayden Seales, when Hudson- Prentice replaced Sean Hunt and promptly took four wickets – including two with his first two deliveries - to leave Somerset reeling at 62-5 at the close
Hudson-Prentice struck first ball when he had Sean Dickson caught, again by Coles, and with his next had Tom Abell lbw.
He struck again in his next over when he had Tom Banton caught behind and finally had Josh Davey lbw to give himself figures of 4-13 in four remarkable overs.
Somerset had taken seven Sussex wickets in the afternoon session to take control of the first County Championship meeting between these two sides for 10 years.
Sussex lost six wickets for 53 runs in just 17 overs, subsiding from 127-1 to 180-7, but then a recovery – led almost inevitably by John Simpson - guided the home side to a total of 294.
A stand of 53 between Simpson (47) and Jack Carson (30), who hit four fours and a straight six off Jack Leach, and a last-wicket partnership of 52 between Hunt (33) and Seales (21 not out) earned Sussex a single batting point.
Daniel Hughes and Tom Clark were the joint top-scorers, with 49 apiece, while the most successful Somerset bowler was their captain, Lewis Gregory, with figures of 4-90, though he took some punishment from Hunt when he returned at the sea end at the end of the innings.
Sussex chose to bat first, perhaps encouraged by the news that Somerset's key overseas signing, Matt Henry, was still in New Zealand, and also by their decision to rest Craig Overton ahead of key matches against Hampshire Surrey and Essex.
But Davey and Gregory still posed problems on a pitch which still offered plenty of bounce and generous seam movement, and Sussex – without Ollie Robinson and Henry Crocombe, through injury - were fortunate to lose only one wicket before lunch.
It all changed after the break as Clark edged Migael Pretorius behind without addition and Tom Alsop was caught low down by Kasey Aldridge at second slip.
When Hughes was then lbw to Pretorius, Sussex had lost three wickets in 10 balls and Coles made just one, before he was caught behind of Gregory to make it 142-5.
A stand of 38 between Simpson and Hudson-Prentice led to a Sussex revival - but Hudson-Prentice's best contribution was still to come.
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