Brett Hutton top-scored with an unbeaten 59 as Nottinghamshire fought hard with bat in hand on a testing opening day away to Sussex in Hove.

Hutton, returning to the side after missing last week’s home victory over Hampshire, joined Tom Giles, who hit 32, in adding 74 for the ninth wicket to lead Notts to 232-9 at stumps.

It capped a strong turnaround from what had been a tricky first two sessions for the visitors, who, either side of a rain delay, were forced onto the back foot at 137-6 after losing the toss.

Despite a positive start from openers Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater, who put on 47 for the first wicket, the loss of the former, caught at first slip for 31, brought about a tough period.

Slater and Freddie McCann, who showed great fight to grind their way through nightmarish batting conditions with cloud looming and the lights on, were also removed before lunch.

That left the visitors 69-3 at the first break, which arrived five minutes early due to rain, and a heavier shower then took hold to put play on pause for almost two hours.

When the action was able to resume, with 13 overs lost from the day’s allocation, Jack Haynes and Joe Clarke took the score into three figures before the former fell to Jaydev Unadkat.

Clarke himself added a useful 36 before he nicked Ari Karvelas into the cordon, before Mitchell Hay and Liam Patterson-White fell either side of tea.

However, that brought Hutton to the crease, who ground his way through the testing spells being offered by the Sussex seamers to reach a steady but vital fifty in 112 deliveries.

He found admirable support from 20-year-old Giles, who hung around for over an hour and a half to firmly frustrate the home attack, taking the score past 200 late on.

Giles would not be unbeaten overnight as he became Tom Price’s third wicket with nine deliveries remaining, but debutant Mukesh Kumar helped Hutton survive through to stumps.

Indeed, Hutton in fact was not just surviving by the end, but thriving, as he struck Unadkat for back-to-back fours to complete the day and give the visitors hope of a batting point.