Martin-Jenkins the sorcerer of Sussex

Sussex 246 Hampshire 88-6

Hampshire must have been heartily sick of the sight of Robin Martin-Jenkins yesterday. The Sussex all-rounder had frustrated the home side for three compelling hours as he pulled Sussex out of the mire, before inflicting some serious damage with the ball.

In a remarkable final session, Hampshire's reply stuttered and sputtered and finally closed with six of their top seven batsmen, including their captain Robin Smith, back in the pavilion. And they still need nine runs to avoid the follow-on.

Martin-Jenkins was the architect, as he found pace, bounce and movement. Once his new-ball partner Jason Lewry had accounted for Will Kendall with a late in-swinger, Martin-Jenkins went to work.

The opener Derek Kenway played across the line and went the same way as Kendall, leg before, identically for four; John Crawley quickly followed (again for four) shouldering arms to one that appeared to nip back late and knocked over middle and off; while Neil Johnson was snapped up brilliantly by Kevin Innes at cover point.

It capped a fine display for Martin-Jenkins, who had shown resilience and patience as he dragged Sussex into the realms of decency, as well as earning them a welcome batting bonus point, with his responsible 135-ball innings.

He scored an unbeaten 80 ­ his second-highest score of the season, on the way sharing in a fifth wicket stand of 50 with Tim Ambrose. Then it was all set up for the extraordinary turnaround, as the hyphenated hero did his bit with the ball, undoing some splendid earlier work by Shaun Udal.

The off-spinner has had a little difficulty getting started this season, repeatedly stalling on two wickets in an innings, but yesterday, finally, the veteran model emerged firing on all four cylinders, claiming his first five-wicket haul since May 2001.

After more than 500 first-class wickets it is little wonder that the 33-year-old took advantage of a seven-day break last week to go back to basics and remodel his action. "Everyone needs an MOT now and then," Udal genially explained. The instant result, an impressive 5 for 56 for his 26th such haul, looked to have put Sussex in the driving seat ­ until his team-mates went out to bat.