James Kirtley celebrated his England call-up by taking an early wicket against Leicestershire at Grace Road today.

Kirtley had opener Iain Sutcliffe caught behind in the tenth over as Sussex bidded for a place in the quarter-finals of the C&G Trophy.

Leicestershire won the toss and chose to bat on a wicket which lacked genuine pace.

Kirtley's breakthrough was the only success Sussex enjoyed in the first half of the Leicestershire innings as Trevor Ward and Darren Stevens began to enjoy themselves under a warm sun.

Former Kent opener Ward scored a half-century off 62 balls as Leicestershire reached 132-1 from 31 of their 50 overs.

Kirtley made the breakthrough after Leicestershire's openers had put on 33, finding the edge as Sutcliffe was betrayed by a lack of footwork when the Sussex captain got one to move off the seam.

Billy Taylor replaced Kirtley in the next over at the Bennett End, but he had to be withdrawn from the firing line after his first over which went for 13 with Ward collecting two boundaries through square and the helmetless Stevens another with a sweetly-timed extra cover drive.

Taylor was brought back on at the pavilion end in the 17th over, replacing Robin Martin-Jenkins whose eight overs with the new ball had cost just 17 runs with three maidens.