Genteel Cheltenham is a long way from Sahiwal and Sheikhupura but Sussex's two Pakistanis must have felt very much at home in the heart of the Cotswolds yesterday.

A dry, dusty pitch was manna from heaven for Mushtaq Ahmed and Rana Naved and they duly bowled their side into a position where they should claim their second successive Championship win.

Mushtaq returned his best figures for a nearly a year and his first five-for of the season while Rana topped and tailed the Gloucestershire innings with the other four wickets as Sussex strengthened their grip on their hapless hosts.

Gloucestershire did manage to avoid the follow-on, which was a great relief to their commercial manager with the hospitality marquees full today, but Sussex, who lead by 269 with six second-innings wickets in hand will surely prevail, possibly with a day to spare.

All the Gloucestershire batsmen got starts but none was able to play the long innings the situation demanded, although it was not until the 30th over that Chris Adams tossed the ball to Mushtaq. It was if the Sussex captain was teasing his opponents.

Mushtaq duly took a wicket in his third over when a sharply-turning leg break deceived Phil Weston and before lunch he had snared two more victims - Alex Gidman, foxed by the googly, and Matt Windows, well caught at silly point by Carl Hopkinson as he pushed tentatively forward.

Gloucestershire have a long tail with Ian Fisher - whose average is a modest 23 - coming in at seven and there was a processional feel to their batting during the afternoon. Just when it looked as if they were building some sort of partnership Mushtaq invariably broke it.

He bowled 23 overs unchanged in the shadow of the college, capturing four more wickets after lunch. Fisher drove loosely to extra cover and Steve Adshead threw it away after playing well for his 39, slogging to long off.

The wicket of Will Rudge, leg before only half-forward, completed his 17th five-wicket haul for the county and took his tally for the season to 48, exactly the same number he had at this stage last season when he finished with 80.

At the other end Mark Davis, in his first Championship match since April, was an effective foil. Although the off-spinner went unrewarded he turned several deliveries sharply out of the rough and was never collared by the batsmen, allowing Adams to keep men round the bat throughout.

It was not all about spin. Rana had made the breakthrough in his fifth over of the day when he trapped Ramnaresh Sarwan in his crease and he returned with the ball 67 overs old and reverse-swinging.

Martyn Ball lost his off stump to a yorker and although Malinga Bandara earned the biggest cheer of the day when he saved the follow-on with a pulled six, Rana got his revenge when Bandara tried his luck again but only lobbed up a catch to mid off.

It left the sizeable contingent of Sussex supporters wondering when the last time an Englishman failed to take a wicket in an innings for the county.

If Mushtaq is the sorcerer then Bandara , even at 25, is still something of an apprentice but he too relished the conditions, claiming four wickets in Sussex's second innings.

Carl Hopkinson and Richard Montgomerie gave Sussex another solid start and both will feel they could have gone on.

But both perished trying to hit against the spin on the back foot while Murray Goodwin was not the first Sussex batsman in this match to be left distinctly unimpressed by a decision from umpire John Steele, caught behind when Bandara pushed a ball through.

Chris Adams edged a googly to second slip before the close but Sussex are still in a very strong position.

Friday, August 12, 2005