Notts go top with Bears

As expected the featherbed pitch was only winner at Trent Bridge as the match ended at 1715 with Sussex 36 runs ahead with five wickets intact and 11 overs to bowl. The eleven bonus points gained from the match ensured that Warwickshire and Notts are neck and neck at the top in terms of points but The Bears have a crucial game in hand. Chris Nash reached his ton 35 minutes in this morning and with Ed Joyce took their opening stand to 216 runs before a brilliant catch by Lumb at mid-wicket saw Joyce fall two short of his ton. His 98 came off 224 balls with 14 fours. Notts had already introduced Riki Wessels rarely seen off spin as their search for wickets got increasingly desperate. Six overs later Notts took the new ball but Gurney in particularly did not make the batsman play enough as Sussex went to lunch on 254 for one. A brief shower delayed the resumption by five minutes, but it was case of business as usual as Nash and the ungainly Wells made untroubled progress. At 1454 the crowd went into shock as Nash hit Carter straight to Taylor on the square leg boundary to depart for a chanceless 162 off 306 balls with 22 fours and one six. Sussex 314 for two only 35 short of making Notts bat again. Goodwin joined Wells as Sussex went to tea on 352 for two, a lead of three. Wessels picked Wells caught and bowled as the left hander waited for umpire confirmation as he thought it was a bump ball; Wells out for 59. Yardy run out without facing a ball played a dreadful pull shot off Harry Gurney and departed caught at mid-wicket for three.  Wright was put down to by Patel, a difficult catch off his own bowling. Notts then surprisingly decided to carrying on bowling after 1700 and Patel bowled Goodwin with his arm ball as the Zimbabwean left with a 91-ball 31 to his name. Wright and Brown saw out the last few overs as Voges was belatedly introduced. Sussex closed on 385 for five as play ended in bright sunshine. Not a match to linger long in the memory, the green pitch on day 1 had descended into somnolent featherbed long before the end.