Sussex well on top against Leicestershire

Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Uptonsteel Grace Road (day two) Sussex 361: Clark 101, Haines 56; Green 3-54, Holland 3-79 & 149-3: Hughes 72 Leicestershire 245: Weatherald 83, Cox 44; Crocombe 5-33, Robinson 5-42 Sussex (6 pts) lead Leicestershire (3 pts) by 265 with seven wickets standing Match scorecard Ollie Robinson's pitch for an England recall could hardly have gone better as he and fellow pace bowler Henry Crocombe took five wickets each to keep Sussex firmly in control against Leicestershire in the County Championship. Looking lean and hungry, Sussex's newly-appointed red-ball captain took 5-42 from 16 overs, with Crocombe backing him up with an impressive career-best 5-33 as the home side were bowled out for 245, conceding a lead of 116. Daniel Hughes, dropped twice, gave the Sussex second innings the start they wanted by making an assertive 72 as they finished on 149-3, stretching their advantage to 265.

Jake Weatherald, the Australian Test opener, marked his Leicestershire debut with a watchable 83 but found meagre support and it was only an 81-run eighth-wicket partnership between Ben Cox (44) and Ben Green (43 not out) that saved the 2025 Division Two champions from following on in their first match back in the top flight. Robinson and Crocombe had begun by reducing Leicestershire from 15-1 overnight in reply to Sussex's 361 to 139-5 at lunch, despite Weatherald making an impressive impact. The left-hander, a last-minute Foxes addition after captain Peter Handscomb's decision to miss the 2026 season for family reasons, won appreciative applause for his driving from the home crowd.

His half-century came off only 65 balls. At the other end, though, it was a different story, at least in the final six overs of the session. Up to that point, at 117-2, Leicestershire had seemed to be building a decent reply.

Robinson, who last played Test cricket more than two years ago, was bowling nicely but it was a spell by Crocombe, a right-armer still trying to ally consistency with undoubted pace, that did the most telling damage, removing three of Leicestershire's middle order in the space of 13 deliveries. Ian Holland, who had looked relatively comfortable in adding 77 with Weatherald for the third wicket, was caught at third slip off a slightly loose shot, but if his dismissal had an element of batter error, that could not be said of the fate of Rehan Ahmed and Lewis Hill. Both perished trying to defend quick, skilful deliveries, Ahmed caught behind to one that nipped back and took the outside edge, Hill bowled by one that straightened to beat his block and uproot off stump.