Sussex staring at big defeat

Round-Up

Sussex's prospects of playing a meaningful part in the race for the title look to be fading fast.

After Warwickshire had punished a shoddy performance in the field by scoring 521, Sussex always faced a tall task if they were to avoid the follow-on, and their slim hopes disappeared when Murray Goodwin departed, six runs short of a century.

Chris Woakes marked his return from injury with four wickets and there were four also for the New Zealand off-spinner Jeetan Patel as Sussex were dismissed for 259 before being asked to follow on, closing on 71 for 2.

Warwickshire are looking for a fifth win in six matches, which would set them up nicely for a run-in that features only one match against a side currently in the top five in the First Division table.

Hampshire, who must await the verdict of a pitch panel looking at a Rose Bowl track that yielded 13 wickets to slow bowlers in the first two innings, will have fancied their chances of pulling off a first win of the season after left-arm spinner Danny Briggs took a career-best 6 for 65 to bowl Nottinghamshire out for 183, giving them a lead of 30. But then Notts and England left-arm spinner Samit Patel took the first five wickets as they stumbled to 86 for 6 in their second innings.