Lancashire landed the first blow in the battle of the two Championship heavyweights on the opening day at Hove.

Their four-pronged seam attack prevented Sussex from collecting a batting point for the first time since July 2002 when they dismissed the champions for 195.

When the rain which had threatened for most of the day finally arrived at tea, Lancashire had reached 51-1 from 14 overs in reply.

A pitch similar to the ones which helped Sussex remain unbeaten at Hove last season is expected to offer increasing assistance to Mushtaq Ahmed.

The leg spinner will only have an influence if Sussex can make inroads into a strong Lancashire batting line-up and make a better fist of their second innings. A better forecast for the next three days suggests it will be hard work.

Several of their top order got starts, but only opener Richard Montgomerie, who batted for three minutes short of four hours, showed the necessary application to combat typically early-season conditions.

Montgomerie carried his bat for the second time in his Sussex career. In May 2002 he made an unbeaten 135 against Leicestershire and the 60 he scored yesterday could prove even more valuable if his team-mates dig themselves out of this hole.

It was only the third instance of a Sussex batsman carrying his bat in the last nine years and it has not happened at Hove against Lancashire since Ken Suttle 40 years ago.

Bearing in mind the way the ball dominated for much of the day, it was a surprise that Chris Adams elected to bat first.

In his defence, he made the decision in bright sunshine but by the time Montgomerie and Ian Ward walked out to open the innings the grey clouds which threatened rain all day had rolled in again and never looked like shifting.

Ward must have wished it had poured. His first Championship innings at Hove lasted just three balls when he was drawn into nibbling at a delivery outside off stump from Peter Martin which flew to third slip, where Dominic Cork took the first of three excellent catches.

With Carl Hooper coming in at five Lancashire have one of the strongest batting line-ups in the country, but in favourable conditions their seam attack could prove just as potent a weapon in their bid for a first outright title since 1934.

It was hard work for Montgomerie and Murray Goodwin against such skilled new ball operators as Martin and Glen Chapple.

The back-up bowling was not bad either. Sajid Mahmood, who is being touted as a possible England bowler, and Cork, who would love to be one again, probed for weaknesses and eventually shared six wickets.

Sussex's watchful second wicket pair appeared to have got through the worst, putting on 71 in 23 overs when Cork trapped Goodwin leg before in his fifth over as the Zimbabwean shaped to drive.

From then on the innings went into steady decline and Sussex had lost three more wickets before lunch.

Adams edged a beauty from the impressive Mahmood which he had to play at to third slip, Tim Ambrose unluckily played on to Cork and Robin Martin-Jenkins was taken at gully driving loosely at Cork after putting on 41 with Montgomerie for the fifth wicket.

No one was able to offer Montgomerie sustained support after the interval either.

Prior lost his off stump to Chapple playing down the wrong line, Kevin Innes edged Martin to second slip as he propped forward while Mushtaq's brief cameo came to an end when he was held at shoulder height behind the stumps by Warren Hegg to give Cork his third wicket.

Montgomerie managed to coax another 34 runs out of the tail before Mahmood returned to finish things off.

He hit just five boundaries and faced 157 balls, but he proved that crease occupation was possible.

Mohammad Akram made an early breakthrough in Lancashire's reply when Mark Chilton lost his off stump attempting an ambitious shot through the leg side, but the relative ease with which Iain Sutcliffe and Mal Loye negotiated the nine overs which followed suggests it could be a long day for Sussex on day two.