I should have hit a hundred

The county's all-rounder scored 86 to help his side recover from 45-4 to 265 on the first day of the Championship match against Essex.

It was his highest score in 54 first-class innings for Sussex and came a couple of days after skipper Chris Adams had called on the lower order to make more of a contribution with the bat.

"It was nice to make my career-best, especially as it was in front of the Sussex supporters," he said.

"But I was disappointed not to go on to make a century because I felt quite good out there."

Martin-Jenkins accepts that an average of 73 runs for the last Sussex five wickets in Championship innings since the start of last season is not good enough.

"It's been a slight problem for a few years, but one of the things that hasn't helped is that tail-enders have often been left batting with each other, it's not an excuse but I think it is a factor.

"Even yesterday there wasn't anything above 30-odd apart from our partnership.

"I saw yesterday what a big difference it makes when you're in a partnership with one of the top order players.

"Batting with Tony Cottey really helped me."

Martin-Jenkins added 150 for the fifth wicket with Cottey who made 83 six weeks after scoring 154 against the same opposition at Chelmsford.

He added: "I've felt quite good with the bat, but I've been trying to be a bit more relaxed because I do tend to get a bit hyped-up and tense.

"The important thing now is to make another good score in the second innings and build on it from there."

Sussex's last five wickets fell for 55, but Martin-Jenkins believes the county have posted a competitive total in the match between fourth and third in Division Two.

"Apart from Leicestershire last year scores of over 300 at Arundel are pretty rare.

"Essex showed that if you put the ball in the right areas you can do well and we think we can get them out cheaply."

Jason Lewry and James Kirtley each took a wicket as Essex closed on 30-2 in reply.