Sussex face two days of hard labour at Canterbury to save the Championship match against Kent despite a second successive hundred from Matt Prior.

Prior followed up his 123 against the same side a fortnight ago with 112 but Sussex were bowled out for 332 in the last over and, presuming they are asked to follow on, will start today 195 in arrears.

No one in a sweltering crowd of over 4,000 could complain about the entertainment with 454 runs scored and 14 wickets taken on the second day but it was the sizeable contingent of Sussex supporters who were wearing the long faces at the end of it.

After Kent had batted on until just before lunch to make 527, Sussex's top order dug their side into a hole with a succession of rash shots on what remains a comfortable batting track.

At 92-4 there was every prospect that they might be batting again before the close but Prior and Richard Montgomerie staged a recovery with a stand of 137 in 29 overs.

Montgomerie only contributed 43 as Prior dominated the strike and the bowling but, if a few of his senior colleagues had adopted the same game plan as the obdurate opener, then Sussex might not be contemplating a potentially fatal blow to their hopes of remaining in the first division a year after winning the title.

An inexperienced Kent attack, three of whom boasted just five Championship appearances between them, were always liable to leak runs.

Montgomerie simply waited for the bad ball before despatching it across a lightning fast outfield.

Boundaries came readily at the other end too but so did Sussex wickets. Ian Ward struck four of them before losing his leg and middle stumps to Amjad Khan's yorker in the fifth over.

Tony Cottey, whose 185 a couple of weeks ago underpinned Sussex's innings win, lasted just six balls this time before waving his bat outside off stump at Robbie Joseph and giving catching practice to the wicketkeeper.

Murray Goodwin is enjoyed the most fruitful period of a disappointing season but, like Ward, he flattered to deceive. After hitting five fours he slapped the ball straight to point in Matt Dennington's first over, the fielder having just been stationed there.

Simply by bowling a consistent line and length, Dennington was the pick of the Kent seam attack and was celebrating again in the fourth over of his spell when Chris Adams aimed an ambitious drive well outside off stump and got a big nick.

Crisis time, although you would not have thought so such was the way Prior came out and immediately started to impose himself, mixing crunching drives in his favourite area between mid off and cover with impressive placement when gaps on the leg side had to be found.

His first 50 came off 63 balls, his next from just 40 although progress was not entirely without alarm.

On 38 he sliced a drive which dropped inches short of the fielder running in from the cover boundary and on 99 Dennington got one hand diving at extra cover to a mis-timed push, allowing a relieved Prior to scramble through for the single which brought up the eighth first-class hundred of his career.

He celebrated by coming down the pitch to loft Alex Loudon into the marquees at long on.

But attempting to repeat the shot in the next over he was stumped by a mile as Min Patel got one of his off-breaks to turn past the bat. His 112, off just 116 balls, included 19 fours.

Montgomerie joined the procession of Sussex batsmen cursing themselves when he pushed at a ball well outside off stump from Dennington to give Niall O'Brien his third catch behind the stumps. His 70 spanned 3hrs 15mins and included six fours.

Luke Wright endured a golden duck in his first Championship innings for the county when he prodded the next ball to short leg and Robin Martin-Jenkins missed a long hop from Loudon.

Joseph returned at the end to have James Kirtley caught behind before uprooting Mushtaq's leg stump after Mushy had made 45 off 36 balls, 36 of them in boundaries.

Earlier, Matthew Walker converted his overnight 83 into a season's best 157. He helped add 165 for the last four wickets.

All three wickets fell to Mushtaq who moved onto 41 for the season.

Amjad was deceived by his quicker ball and Joseph caught behind by one slanted across his bat before Walker holed out to long on having spoiled Mushtaq's figures by hitting him for two big sixes.

There were also 16 fours and the nuggety left-hander's impressive contribution could yet prove to be the match-winning one.