James Kirtley and Jason Lewry chose the most famous stage of all to demonstrate just how important they will be to Sussex's hopes of becoming a genuine force in the county game.

The pair shared the new ball for only the second time since last May against Middlesex at Lord's yesterday and it was no surprise when they each took a wicket in their first spells of the new Championship campaign.

What was unexpected were their earlier heroics with the bat. There was something in the pitch to assist the quicks all day, but Sussex had still underperformed when Lewry joined Kirtley with their side 172-9.

An hour later they had put on a county record 67 for the last wicket against Middlesex to take the total to 239, Lewry belting 45 off 43 balls.

The pair had given themselves something to bowl at and were quick to make sure the initiative stayed with Sussex.

Kirtley picked up captain Andrew Strauss in the sixth over with a ball which swung late to find the edge and in the next over Owais Shah was bowled by Lewry via an inside edge as he too prodded tentatively forward.

Sven Koenig and David Nash put on 40 for the third wicket before wickets in successive overs tilted the balance Sussex's way just before the close.

Nash was bowled via an inside edge by Robin Martin-Jenkins and nightwatchman Simon Cook chopped Mushtaq Ahmed's wrong'un onto his stumps to give the Pakistani leg-spinner his first wicket for the county.

It was not quite the scenario Adams had envisaged when he won the toss. In the srping sunshine Lord's looked its best and the batsmen must have eyed the short boundary on the Grandstand side with relish.

Openers Richard Montgomerie and Murray Goodwin emerged unscathed from a testing first hour when both played and missed regularly, but Sussex then lost three wickets in six overs and the innings went into a decline which was only arrested when Lewry started to belt the ball through the covers.

Their main source of discomfort was burly Queenslander Joe Dawes.

Sussex followers may recall Dawes cutting swathes through the Australian top order for the MCC at Arundel two years ago.

This winter only two players took more than the 43 wickets he collected in Pura Cup cricket for Queensland.

With his broad shoulders and big backside he looks more like a prop forward, but he got considerable lift and seam movement out of a green-tinged pitch in two spells from the Pavilion End either side of lunch.

Goodwin was his first victim, courtesy of a stinging shoulder-high catch by Shah at first slip.

Tony Cottey was betrayed by a lack of footwork and became Dawes' second victim for a 13-ball duck the ball after Montgomerie had followed one outside off stump from Chad Keegan.

Cook and Pakistani all-rounder Abdul Razzaq did not carry the same threat as the new ball pair and Adams and Tim Ambrose rebuilt the innings in a stand of 51 in 14 overs.

Off-spinner Paul Weekes made a crucial intervention with his fourth ball just before lunch when he took an outstanding return catch off a bludgeoning straight drive by Adams, instinctively snaffling the ball at the second attempt.

Ambrose played several typically punchy back foot shots which sped across the manicured outfield. He had struck eight boundaries in a 92-ball 51 when he was bowled via an inside edge to give Cook his solitary success.

His was one of five wickets which fell for 40 runs in 15 overs as the innings went into a tail-spin before numbers ten and 11 put conditions into perspective.

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