Sussex now know just how Freddie Flintoff and the rest of the England team felt at Lord's earlier this week.

Sri Lanka's appetite for crease occupation was clearly not sated after they saved the first Test by batting for more than three days.

Sussex's attack stuck to their guns admirably at Hove yesterday but on an easy-paced pitch the Sri Lankan top order batsmen were queueing up to justify coach Tom Moody's decision not to select veteran Sanith Jayasuriya.

A month after announcing his retirement from Test cricket, Jayasuriya was reinstated into the squad at the insistence of chairman of selectors Ashanta de Mel last week to bring his considerable experience to a flaky top order.

He was expected to get his eye in against Sussex ahead of the second Test next week but Moody decided instead to give his youngsters more experience.

It was his way of saying he did not agree with the decision.

Moody was vindicated when opener Upal Tharanga scored 140 - his second hundred of the tour - out of a first-day total of 283-4 from 97 overs.

Solid contributions from Jehan Mubarek and Michael Vandort will have given Moody more selection problem ahead of the Test.

Meanwhile, when he was not straight-batting questions from the Sri Lankan media, Jayasuriya happily spent the day doing 12th man duties.

The pitch is one of those relaid by former groundsman Derek Traill and although there was some occasional steep bounce to contend with at the sea end it played pretty well.

Tim Linley and Ollie Rayner, both making their first-class debuts for the county, caught the eye.

Linley has a smooth, repeatable action and bowled a consistent length. He showed excellent control, particularly in his nineover opening spell when he conceded just 15 runs, and in partnership with Luke Wright helped apply the brakes on after Sri Lanka's openers had rattled along at four an over for the first hour.

Linley's big moment came in his third over when he had Mubarek caught in the covers off a mis-timed drive, ironically from a delivery which he pitched up a bit more than most.

In the 14 overs before lunch Sri Lanka scored eked out just eight runs and Tharanga was stuck on 46 for 37 balls before reaching his half-century with a sumptious straight drive off the first ball after the interval.

The 21-year-old accelerated towards his hundred, which came off 124 balls with 15 boundaries, with some crisp strokes on both sides of the wicket as he helped fellow left-hander Vandort put on 113 for the second wicket in 48 overs.

Rayner also impressed in two long spells either side of lunch up the slope. He was not afraid to give his off breaks plenty of air and it must have been slightly galling for him that the partnership was broken not by him but by part-time off-spinner Chris Nash who trapped Van-dort leg before sweeping his third ball.

Tharanga was dropped by Neil Turk off Linley on 106 before departing to the second new ball when he mis-timed a pull off Wright to mid on, having batted for five-and-a-half hours, faced 253 balls and hit 18 fours.

Duncan Spencer was expensive early on but bowled much better when he adjusted his length and he removed the dangerous Kumar Sangakarra after tea.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardene came down the pitch to spoil Rayner'd day by hitting him through the leg side for two fours and a six in successive deliveries.

Ominously for Sussex, he looks to be in the mood to repeat his Lord's heroics where his hundred went a long way towards helping Sri Lanka save the match.

Removing him early today will be key to Sussex's hopes of making sure they avoid the sort of hard labour England's bowlers had to endure a few days ago.