The batsmen have done their bit, now it is up to the Sussex bowlers to finish off Hampshire and ensure that Hove hosts first division cricket again next season.

The early indications are that they are going to have their work cut out in the two days left to take the remaining 19 Hampshire wickets.

But their hopes received an unexpected boost just before rain curtailed the second day's play when Robin Martin-Jenkins claimed the important scalp of Neil Johnson.

Hampshire's first target is to make 482 just to avoid the follow-on and the way Johnson set off after Sussex had declared their first innings on 631-6 suggested he might get most of those runs on his own.

His 50 came off just 47 balls and included six fours and a pulled six off Martin-Jenkins as the Sussex seamers quickly discovered that any indiscretion in line or length was asking for trouble on a flat surface.

Martin-Jenkins was the pick of the three bowlers employed by skipper Chris Adams, twice having good lbw shouts, one each against Johnson and Jason Laney, turned down before he had Johnson caught behind feeling for the ball outside off stump. But 34 overs were lost to rain at either end of the day and Hampshire closed on 69-1.

How Adams must wish he was able to call on another specialist slow bowler to assist Mark Davis who can expect to have plenty of work today.

Earlier, records had tumbled regularly as Sussex batted an increasingly woebegone Hampshire attack into the dust.

Their total was the equal fifth highest in the county's history and their biggest at Hove for five years and although the crowd were unable to applaud a maiden double-hundred from Richard Montgomerie they were rising as one a few hours later to acknowledge an outstanding innings from Matt Prior who made his maiden first-class hundred with some style.

Prior came into the match with just 27 runs in his previous six Championship innings. He faced a test of technique as well as temperament and came through with flying colours.

His first 50 came, by Prior's standards, at a relatively sedate pace off 63 balls, but after he and Martin-Jenkins had got the signal to push things along the ball began disappearing to all parts as he cut, drove and pulled with the confidence of a man who knew he would never get a better chance to score his first hundred.

He raced from 50 to 99 off just 39 more deliveries, but then spent 13 balls on 99. It was hard to say who was more tense, Prior or the crowd, but finally, with a flourish of the wrists, he drove Shaun Udal through mid on to reach the landmark.

Adams called them in a few moments later with Prior having faced 105 balls and hit 12 fours and two sixes, the first of them a flat square drive off Alan Mullally whose startled reaction as the ball scattered members in the pavilion suggested it was an area where he is infrequently deposited.

The fourth highest total by any county this season - don't forget Sussex made 644 at Taunton in July - has also produced a neat sub-plot with four players now in sight of 1,000 runs with potentially three more innings to reach the milestone.

Martin-Jenkins is on 966 after making 64 in a stand of 120 in 25 overs with Prior before carving to second slip.

Just ahead of him is first day centurion Murray Goodwin (975) while Montgomerie (949) must also fancy his chances after he finished with 196, four more than his previous best made for Northamptonshire seven years ago. He finally fell to a catch at the wicket after facing 345 balls, 32 of which he hit to the boundary.

Tim Ambrose was a deserved second victim for Mascarenhas, who never stopped trying, while Kevin Innes helped Prior put on 51 in just seven overs at the end.