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England’s Ollie Robinson increased his wickets haul to seven in the match but Nottinghamshire were in full control at the halfway stage of their LV= Insurance County Championship clash with Sussex.
Robinson proved deadly with the new ball for the second time, reducing the Division Two leaders to 40 for three in their second innings.
But after Haseeb Hameed made 94 and Lyndon James 56, Nottinghamshire finished on 284 for seven, with a lead of 381.
Earlier, Nottinghamshire pace bowlers James Pattinson and Dane Paterson finished with five wickets each as Sussex, who sit next to bottom of the table, were bowled out for 143 in reply to Nottinghamshire’s first innings 240.
To add to their woes, any points take from this match – they have three so far – may be lost, as they stand at minus six on their over-rate.
Nottinghamshire needed just under an hour first thing to take the final five Sussex wickets, the key breakthrough coming in the sixth over when Dane Paterson trapped Cheteshwar Pujara with an inswinging ball that was too good even for a player of the Indian Test star’s calibre.
His wicket, ending a partnership worth 71, more than compensated the South African bowler for a chance missed earlier when Archie Lenham, the 18-year-old son of Neil Lenham and grandson of Les, who had battled courageously alongside Pujara in the face of a high-class attack, was put down at second slip.
With Pujara gone, Paterson and Pattinson ripped through the remainder so quickly that all five wickets fell for 23 runs in the space of 34 deliveries.
Pattinson removed Lenham for a gutsy 31, the youngster looking disappointed to be given out leg before after the ball rolled away to third slip.
Robinson was strangled down the leg side, prompting Luke Fletcher to appear alongside Pattinson to congratulate him on his first five-wicket haul of the season.
Not to be outdone, Paterson knocked out Sean Hunt’s off stump before having Ari Karvelas plainly leg before to finish with five for 43, Pattinson having taken five for 56.
As on day one of a breathtakingly fast-moving contest, Robinson came up with a superb opening spell as Sussex, trailing by 97 on first innings, made early inroads.
Again, his fourth and fifth overs were productive as Ben Slater, Ben Duckett and Joe Clarke departed in the space of six deliveries, the last two without scoring.
Slater went after a short ball with little chance of controlling the shot and was caught at fine leg. Duckett was caught behind off an inside edge. And Clarke, offering no shot, was lbw to a ball that kept low.
If they had winkled out Hameed at that point, Sussex might have felt they were back in the contest but the sometime England opener, closing on 1,000 first-class runs in a season for the first time since his sensational breakthrough year at Lancashire in 2016, looked in splendid touch.
A superbly timed straight drive for four in Robinson’s opening over was evidence of that and by the time he pulled Brad Currie to the fence for his ninth boundary he had 50 from 71 balls. Having seen the back of Robinson for a while, he and James added 138 in 33 overs.
Hameed missed out on a hundred when a ball from Sean Hunt, the 20-year-old left-armer, nipped away to have him caught behind. In his best spell of the match, Hunt also dismissed James, lbw trying to work him to leg.
Currie removed Tom Moores shortly after tea with another delivery that found the edge and Steven Mullaney, whose 70 was the key innings in Nottinghamshire’s first innings, added another 42 before he was leg before sweeping another 18-year-old, the left-arm spinner.
Pattinson and Liam Patterson-White added 34 before bad light brought the close forward by two overs.
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Nottinghamshire assistant coach Kevin Shine said: “It has been a good day for us. We bowled them out in under an hour and we’ve built a really, really healthy lead but the job’s not done yet. There’s still another two days to go and we’ll try to stretch this lead.
“In Jimmy Pattinson and Dane Paterson we have two fantastic performers with the ball. For the last couple of years, the whole bowling attack has performed excellently.
“This morning we saw two guys going really hard, attacking really hard. Sussex tried to counter punch and they did at times but what you saw were some fantastic deliveries from two world-class bowlers.
“Dane has got 41 wickets at 22, so he is closing in on 100 for us in two seasons. As a person, compared with Jimmy, who is a bit more vociferous and animated, Dane is quite quiet, but he assesses things, works things out and that’s what he has done since he came to this country.
He’s learned to bowl with a different ball, a Duke ball, and he’s got that killer nip-back ball and you saw him get Pujara today with an absolute beauty.”
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Sussex assistant coach James Kirtley said: “They are stretching towards a 400-run lead and for us it will be a test of character and mindset. The guys have given it their all and are bowling with skill. But we are realistic and understand where we are and we face a couple of tough days ahead.
“We have some very young players but they learn so much in games like this. In matches like this you find out a lot about your players and they are not shirking that, and that’s what is exciting.
“Someone like Archie Lenham, who’s only just turned 18, to see him play like he did with Cheteshwar Pujara last night and again today against high-quality bowlers on this pitch is a huge boost for what is ahead for this team.
“He had two hours or so batting with Pujara and there isn’t any better batting masterclass that you could have than learning in the middle alongside someone like him.
“It is very welcome to have Ollie Robinson back. No one doubts Ollie’s ability but what impressed me today is that he has bowled 34 overs in the game and has bowled back-to-back days. I thought he ran in as hard after tea as he has all match. He is a talisman for the team and he drives standards on the field.
“He is a hugely proud man and he is very keen to be back in the England side and to see the work that he is doing is a really good sign. He is a bit rusty, he knows that, but he will only get better and we will see what happens at the end of the summer.”
On the prospect of losing points for slow over-rate, Kirtley said: “We are on it as coaches and reminding the players but we can’t conduct the orchestra out there as well as from the balcony.
“It is a concern and one they have to address but sometimes lessons have to be learned the hard way and perhaps that is what you need to get a response.”
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