Sussex’s seam attack reduced Derbyshire to 142-9 at the close on Day One, after heavy rain had washed out the first two sessions of the day.
The visitors had been put in to bat by their hosts but rain arrived shortly before the scheduled start and meant that play could only get under way at 4pm with 40 overs left in the day.
Sussex enjoyed a dominant evening session, with Steve Magoffin (3-22), Ajmal Shahzad (3-27) and Stu Whittingham (3-52) taking three wickets apiece to leave Derbyshire 142-9 at the close, despite Shiv Thakor’s counter-attacking run-a-ball 44 not out.
When play finally got going at 4pm after the lengthy rain delay, Magoffin struck with the second ball of the day when Chesney Hughes edged him to slip without scoring.
Billy Godleman and Hamish Rutherford threatened to build a recovery for the visitors, accumulating 33 for the second wicket, until Rutherford was cleaned up by Whittingham for 13.
A further 10 runs were added until the next wicket fell when Wayne Madsen was caught by Harry Finch in the slips off Whittingham’s bowling on 10.
Godleman and Neil Broom added 28 for the fourth wicket, but Godleman was eventually out for 17 when he was he first to fall to Shahzad, caught by Luke Wells.
Broom was next man out, caught by Chris Nash to give Shahzad his second the day, having made 22. Tom Poynton could only score a single before being bowled by the former England man Shahzad.
Matt Critchley (3) also fell cheaply to Whittingham but Thakor and Tom Taylor counter-attacked to ensure their side got past 100 and towards 150 before the close.
The pair put on 44 before Magoffin got Taylor (14) and Tony Palladino (0) in the penultimate over of the day as the visitors reached stumps on 142-9 with Thakor unbeaten on 43.
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