Kirtley slips back into groove to put Sussex in command

Sussex 239 & 194-9 Middlesex 116

In conditions to get the fingers of even the oldest seamer twitching, Sussex moved into a commanding position against Middlesex here yesterday in their first Championship outing of the summer. On a pitch offering movement to the quicker bowlers throughout and with the forecast promising similar conditions over the next two days, a lead of 317 with one wicket remaining should be enough to ensure that Chris Adams' competitive side get their season off to a winning start.

Adams had his strike bowler, James Kirtley, to thank for putting Sussex in such a strong position. After a disappointing winter, in which he just failed to gain selection for England's World Cup squad, Kirtley slipped straight into the sort of rhythm which suggests it will not be too long before the national selectors once again frequent the south coast.

Bowling unchanged from the Nursery End for an hour and a half, Kirtley used all his skill and experience to make the most of a muggy, overcast morning.

There will be occasions when the 28-year-old bowls worse for greater reward than his 3 for 51, but it was the wickets of the in-form Ed Joyce and Sven Koenig, both trapped leg before wicket, that wrecked any hope Middlesex might have had of moving away from their precarious overnight position of 79 for 4.

But for a freak incident Kirtley would have had even more to smile about. Bowling at Chad Keegan, Kirtley and the fielders behind the stumps went up for a regulation caught behind as a noise was heard when the ball passed the batsman's bat. Remarkably though the ball had not taken the edge. On its way through it had feathered the off-stump.

This was pointed out by Keegan to the disbelieving fielders, who came to the stumps to see that the bail had been tossed gently into the air only to come back down with its fatter part resting in the groove.

With the bail replaced to its rightful position play continued, but Keegan failed to make the most of his good fortune when, eight runs later, he edged a leg-break from Mushtaq Ahmed through to the keeper.

Middlesex's poor display with the bat, which was summed up by a dreadful piece of cricket that led to the run-out of Paul Weekes, ended when Ben Hutton was given out lbw attempting to slog the same bowler into the short leg-side boundary.

Kirtley was not alone in leaving Middlesex's batsmen with little clue as to where the next run was coming from. He received handsome support from Jason Lewry, whose left-arm in-swing accounted for a shot-less Abdul Razzaq. Both bowlers delivered a fullish length, which enabled them not only to dart the ball about but give Middlesex's battery of left-handers very little to hit. The fact that six wickets fell for just 37 runs in 18.3 overs highlighted the stranglehold Sussex had over their opponents.

With a first-innings lead of 123, Sussex's batsmen then set about the task of putting this match out of Middlesex's reach. They received just the start they wanted when 12 runs came off the first over bowled by Joe Dawes.

The strapping Queenslander got his revenge by trapping Murray Goodwin in front, but hard as Middlesex's seamers tried – Keegan was comfortably the pick ending the day with figures of 4 for 27 – they could not match Sussex's discipline.

The innings of the day came from Robin Martin-Jenkins, who went some way to making up for the fact that he didn't get his hands on the ball in the morning by scoring an important 50 while wickets fell regularly around him. On reaching his half-century Martin-Jenkins became the ninth batsman of the day to be given out lbw, proving that it was not just the fast bowlers whose fingers were twitching.