Sussex suffered a sting in the tail at the Rosebowl yesterday, just when it looked as if they might make Hampshire follow on and give themselves the chance of forcing victory.

The contest looked to be drifting towards an inevitable draw when Hampshire reached tea on 292-4, 59 short of the follow-on target with Zimbabwean Neil Johnson seemingly well set having shared in a stand of 134 with century-maker Giles White.

But Robin Martin-Jenkins almost single-handedly put Sussex in control again, removing Johnson, Adrian Aymes and Dimitri Mascerenhas in the space of four overs.

And when Mark Davis had Lawrence Prittipaul caught at short leg, Hampshire had subsided from 301-4 to 323-8.

But numbers nine and ten, Shaun Udal and Alec Morris, steadied the nerves in the Hampshire dressing room, sharing an unbroken ninth wicket partnership of 69 to take their side to 392-8, still 108 behind but almost certainly safe from defeat.

Martin-Jenkins' success in the final session was no more than he deserved. The tall all-rounder, who made an unbeaten half-century in Sussex's massive first innings 500-7 declared, bowled a naggingly consistent off stump line in two spells from the pavilion end, more than once disconcerting the batsmen with extra bounce.

Martin-Jenkins conceded just 13 runs in a seven-over spell in the morning before returning after tea to take 3-8 in 15 deliveries.

Johnson fell for 60 when he was trapped in front as he tried to work a ball through mid-wicket which swung back in. Aymes was then surprised by that extra bounce, the ball looping off the shoulder to Murray Goodwin in the gully. And in his next over Mascerenhas carelessly swatted a mis-timed pull straight to square leg where Chris Adams didn't have to move to take the catch.

Lawrence Prittipaul is an exciting prospect and the handsome extra cover drive which sped to the boundary to get him off the mark was the shot of the day.

The 21-year-old from Portsmouth had moved onto 24 and after the sudden flurry of wickets Hampshire's hopes seemed to rest on his young shoulders.

But on 24 he tried to sweep Davis and Richard Montgomerie had time to turn his back and spin around again before the ball dropped gently into his hands at short leg. Hampshire had lost four wickets for 22 in nine overs and were suddenly staring down the barrel.

Udal and Morris adopted a cautious approach at first, but once Martin-Jenkins had taken his sweater the pressure on the batsmen noticably eased. After 12 overs together Morris saved the follow on by drilling Davis four and he produced an even better shot to bring up the 50 partnership, sweeping the off-spinner over mid-wicket for six.

Normal service had been resumed.

If some of his team-mates had followed the example set earlier in the day by White, the frayed nerves among the home supporters would have been avoided.

The 29-year-old scored his first Championship hundred for three years and went on to make 141, just four short of his career best.

It was a chanceless innings notable for some well-timed strokes off his legs. His only moment of alarm came on 99 when he survived a strong leg before appeal from Umer Rashid.

He put on 134 with Johnson for the fifth wicket and had batted for over six-and-a-half hours, facing 345 balls when he mis-timed a pull at Lewry two balls after a similar shot had brought him a 16th boundary. This time the ball flew upwards and Matt Prior made sure he got right under the catch.

Prior was neat and tidy behind the stumps and kept particularly well to the spinners. Davis was on right at the start for a marathon spell of 26 overs which yielded two wickets in the space of three balls.

Will Kendall was caught at short leg propping forward in the 63rd over, having added 83 in 37 overs with White. Two balls later Robin Smith mis-timed an on drive, offering a simple return catch instead.

There was some slow turn to encourage Davis and Rashid, but if anything the pitch has got even easier to batting which is why you will get long odds on any result other than a draw.