Robin Martin-Jenkins led a stirring Sussex fightback with bat and ball as 14 wickets fell on a dramatic second day in the Championship game against Hampshire at West End.

Martin-Jenkins scored a crucial unbeaten 80 in Sussex's first innings 246 and then ripped out the home side's top order with a new ball burst of 3-10.

Derek Kenway, John Crawley and Neil Johnson were his victims while Jason Lewry and Billy Taylor chipped in with three wickets between them as Hampshire were reduced to 60-6 in reply. Giles White and Dimitri Mascarenhas survived six overs together before the close and Hampshire will resume today on 88-6.

Seam movement and Lewry's consistent swing dominated the final session after Sussex had undergone trial by spin for the second successive game earlier in the day.

They managed to just about resist the advances of Yorkshire's slow-bowling triumverate at Arundel last week, but yesterday Hampshire's experienced off-spinner Shaun Udal returned his best figures for 14 months, finishing with 5-56.

Udal took four of the last five wickets to fall as Sussex lost their last six for 88 in 27 overs after Martin-Jenkins and Tim Ambrose appeared to have put their side in charge during a fifth-wicket partnership of 50, the second highest of the innings, either side of lunch.

Batting was never easy on a dry pitch of uneven bounce which was soon offering some slow turn for Udal.

When Martin-Jenkins and Lewry were charging in after tea a Sussex total, which had appeared to be under-par earlier in the day, suddenly looked a distant target for Hampshire.

Kendall had already survived a frenzied leg before appeal from Martin-Jenkins when he was trapped in front offering no shot to Lewry's late inswing in the fifth over.

Kenway was next to go, lbw playing across the line to Martin-Jenkins in the eighth over.

And the tall all-rounder, getting more pace and bounce out of the wicket than any of the Hampshire bowlers, struck again in his next over when John Crawley shouldered arms to a ball which nipped back into him and clipped the top of middle and off.

The force was undoubtedly with Martin-Jenkins by now. Johnson struck him for a rare boundary in his seventh over, but two balls later the Zimbabwean's fiercely-struck square drive was intercepted by Kevin Innes at cover, who dived forward to take an outstanding catch inches from the turf.

To complete Sussex's fightback there were two wickets for Taylor against the county who rejected him as a teenager.

There was no need for the now infamous Taylor celebratory growl either, just a raising of the left arm in triumph, first when Robin Smith played back and across to a ball which didn't bounce and took out his middle stump, and then when Nic Pothas was caught off the glove as he pushed forward.

Hampshire's captain became the 12th batsman to be out for a single-figure score, a statistic which put the determined approach of Martin-Jenkins, Ambrose and Mike Yardy earlier in the day into perspective.

Yardy and Ambrose put on 58 for the fourth wicket after Sussex skipper Chris Adams had played on to Alan Mullally in the former England left-armer's fifth over of the day.

It was a struggle simply to survive for both young batsmen early on. Ambrose got away with a couple of hesitant prods which flashed through the slip cordon while Chris Tremlett and Mullally regularly had Yardy groping outside off stump as they maintained consistent lines.

They looked to have got over the worst when Yardy overbalanced trying to sweep Udal and Pothas completed an excellent one-handed stumping.

Ambrose chisseled away grimly for nearly two-and-a-half hours so it was a surprise when impatience got the better of him. Stuck on 49 for 15 minutes, he got a bottom edge chasing a wide ball from Mullally which he ought to have left alone.

Now it was Udal's turn to get to work. Hampshire's beneficiary spent last week fine-tuning his action in the nets and his labours paid off with the 26th five-for of his career.

Matt Prior was caught at mid-on mis-timing a lofted drive, Innes was taken low down at mid-wicket on the drive and Lewry held at cover when Udal cleverly held the ball back. Johnson was Hampshire's other successful bowler when he had Mark Davis leg before.

Taylor was last to go, caught at backward square leg off a mis-timed sweep, but only after he'd added 20 useful runs for the last wicket with Martin-Jenkins.

They might prove crucial in the context of a low-scoring contest while Martin-Jenkins' second half-century of the season could end up being a match-winning contribution.

He batted for just over three hours, faced 135 balls and hit seven fours, the majority of them punched through cover off the back foot.

Had it not been for the wet outfield, which didn't give batsmen full value for their shots in the first half of the day and the lack of support he received from the lower order, he might well have converted it into a second Championship hundred.