Sussex have come to expect match-turning contributions from Mushtaq Ahmed with a ball in his hand.

A slow pitch prepared to negate the threat of their star leg spinner did it's job as Chris Adams and his Championship chasers encountered stiff Warwickshire resistance on the first day at Edgbaston yesterday.

But you cannot keep a high class performer like Mushtaq out of the game for long and it was his stunning catch which revived Sussex and terminated what could still turn out to be a match-winning partnership between Nick Knight and Michael Powell.

The dogged Powell had contributed 42 to a fifth wicket stand of 126 in 31 overs when Robin Martin-Jenkins dug one in short. Powell got plenty of bat on ball and was as astounded as everyone else - some of the Sussex players included - when Mushtaq hared in from fine leg to take a sensational one-handed catch at full stretch.

There have been some outstanding catches from Sussex players this season but few better than this one.

Knight went on to score the 40th first-class hundred of his career and fifth against Sussex and by the close Tim Ambrose was punishing his former county with an unbeaten half-century as Warwickshire reached 329-7 - an unlikely scenario when the ball was wobbling under sultry skies earlier in the day.

Sussex coach Mark Robinson thinks that the pitch, despite its appearance, will be at its best for batting today and tomorrow and is backing his side to come out on top.

He said: "We were surprised that the pitch was so green but it was similar for their last game against Middlesex and that ended up being a high-scoring draw.

"Mushy might not be as big a threat until the second innings but I would back our seam attack against any in the country at the moment.

"We've brought back Kirtley and Martin-Jenkins and have just picked a team to win us this game with our best three out-and-out seamers.

"They stuck at it well. We didn't get the rub of the green at times with a lot of edges early on flying wide of fielders but that happens."

Sussex are entitled to fear the worst bearing in mind their abysmal record at Edgbaston where they have not won since shooting out Warwickshire for 43 in 1982.

On two of their last three visits they have lost after being bowled out cheaply on the final day. Last season it cost them the chance of the title and although another defeat would not be a terminal blow to this year's challenge there is no doubt that a Warwickshire side low on confidence are there for the taking.

Skipper Chris Adams was probably happy for once not to win the toss and he could have had no complaints about the way his bowlers stuck to their task in helpful conditions early on.

When Alex Loudon was caught at slip pushing forcibly at Mushtaq's leg break just after lunch, Warwickshire were tottering at 89-4.

Knight had been reprieved on 16 off the last ball before lunch when Matt Prior dropped a difficult low chance, also off Mushtaq. Like the rest of the Warwickshire top order he found it hard labour at the start as Sussex's bowlers maintained a consistent off stump line.

But gradually the former England left-hander began to assert himself. His first 50 runs took 120 balls but he accelerated to reach his hundred off just 68 more deliveries, reaching the landmark with a slog-sweep off Mushtaq which brought him one of his 17 boundaries.

Some of the front foot drives which scorched across the parched outfield were a succinct reminder of what Warwickshire will miss when Knight retires at the end of the season to take up TV commentary work. He eventually fell near the close after a five-and-a-half hour vigil, his tired defensive push breached with the new ball by James Kirtley.

Powell was much more pragmatic but his contribution was no less important and even after he departed Ambrose frustrated his former team-mates by regularly finding the gaps to lodge his second fifty for his new county which he reached with a smashing straight drive off Kirtley.

By then Mike Yardy had taken over behind the stumps as Matt Prior nursed a hamstring he tweaked just before tea. Sussex expect him to resume today.

The morning session had belonged to Sussex.

Jason Lewry and the recalled James Kirtley bowled exemplary new ball spells and Mark Wagh had faced 31 balls for five runs before Kirtley got some extra bounce off a good length and the edge looped gently to fourth slip.

Yasir Arafat drew Jonathan Trott forward with his fourth delivery and Martin-Jenkins found just enough seam movement to unseat Ian Westwood in the 27th over.

Loudon, dropped on 14 by Carl Hopkinson at short leg off Lewry, did not last much longer but batting got a lot easier when the clouds parted after lunch. Getting through the rest of Warwickshire's batting quickly today will be crucial to Sussex's hopes of ending their Edgbaston angst.