Nottinghamshire endured a tough time of things as their Specsavers County Championship match against Sussex reached the halfway stage at Hove.
 
Sussex’s lower middle order frustrated them for the first two sessions, as a series of individual and team batting records were achieved, as Michael Burgess and Chris Jordan both scored centuries in a first innings total of 565.
 
Burgess scored 146, his maiden first class hundred, whilst Jordan’s 147 was his highest score at this level.
 
Billy Root was introduced as the seventh member of the Nottinghamshire attack and he claimed the final three wickets at an expense of just 29, with Steven Mullaney getting three for 60.
 
Notts began their reply after tea and lost the wicket of Jake Libby in just the second over. Four further batsmen were dismissed before bad light brought a premature close with the visitors on 108 for five, with Root unbeaten on 31.
 
Assistant Head Coach Paul Franks admitted that it was a day that every credit had to be given to Nottinghamshire’s opponents.
 
“You can’t shy away from the facts of the game, I thought the partnership between Burgess and Jordan was outstanding,” he said.
 
“We weren’t as good as we would have liked to have been in our bowling combinations and we didn’t back each other up as well as we could have done during those spells but they didn’t give us much opportunity to wrest the initiative back.”
 
Franks added, “When we batted, I thought right from the start they were right on the money. Jofra Archer is a highly-skilled young bowler and he bowled beautifully with the new ball and Stuart Whittingham took the wickets.
 
They put us under pressure early - and we weren’t able to deal with it as we would have liked.”
 
The home side resumed on 230 for five at the start of play but soon lost their sixth wicket. Harry Gurney, bowling downhill from the Cromwell Road end, found the outside edge of Delray Rawlins’ bat and Chris Read gobbled up his second offering of the match.
 
Rawlins had been dropped on nought but blossomed as his innings wore on and he helped add 125 with Burgess.
 
His departure paved the way for a delightful innings from Jordan, batting at no.8 in the order, and he galloped to his 50 from just 59 balls, with 10 fours.
 
Burgess hit Hutton for three consecutive fours to go to his hundred, two flashed to the unprotected third man fence and then a drive through the covers, bringing the milestone up from 146 deliveries, with 15 fours and a six.
 
The right-handed wicketkeeper then accelerated further, lifting Luke Wood over his head for four before pulling down towards the long leg fence for six, although Brett Hutton got his fingertips to it, whilst diving at full stretch.
 
As lunch approached the two batsmen extended their stand beyond 150, with the interval score-line reading 389 for six.
 
Burgess and Jordan went past the 157 that Matt Prior and Kevin Innes had scored against the same opponents at Horsham in 2003 and had added 189 together, before the seventh wicket went down when Gurney bowled Burgess.
 
There was no respite for the visiting fielders as Archer picked up the tempo quickly and advanced to his own 50.
 
Jordan’s hundred had come from 116 balls and he went past his previous career high of 132. The England international hit three maximums and went in search of another before holing out to Riki Wessels at long on, a dismissal that presented Billy Root with his maiden first class scalp.
 
Root struck again, as Matt Carter plucked a catch out of the sky at long off to send back Archer, who made 72 and Whittingham’s fun was ended on 22 when he played all around the off spinner and was bowled.
 
Looking for a solid platform Notts soon ran into difficulties, losing Libby for nought to Archer.
 
Whittingham then dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara, lbw for 12 and bowled Steven Mullaney for 22.
 
Archer had Wessels given out, caught behind, before Whittingham grabbed his third wicket, with Samit Patel adjudged to have been leg before wicket for 21.
 
Root punished width and hit four boundaries in his brief, unbroken partnership with Read, who walked out to a terrific ovation from the large crowd.
 
Notts will begin the third day hoping that their lower order can make as sizeable contribution as Sussex’s did.