Chris Adams believes the record-breaking exploits of two of his key batsmen will lift the entire Sussex team.

Outplayed for much of the first three days in their Championship opener against Warwickshire, Mike Yardy and Murray Goodwin turned the contest spectacularly on its head in the Hove sunshine on Saturday.

Their unbroken stand of 385 not only broke the county's record for the third wicket, which has stood since 1901, but it equalled the second best partnership for any wicket in Sussex's history.

When the players shook hands on the draw, they had batted for 120 overs and taken Sussex to 417-2 before departing to a standing ovation and an equally warm reception back in the dressing room.

Adams, meanwhile, sat for four minutes short of seven-and-a-half hours with his pads on and loved every minute of it.

He said: "I'm so thrilled with the way we fought and scrapped and it was epitomised by Murray and Yards.

"That sort of partnership is a huge boost not only to them but to the side as a whole. We haven't won the game but it feels like a win.

"To win championships you have to consistently score big totals. I'm a little disappointed with our first innings batting but the two guys showed what you can achieve if you apply yourself like they did."

Goodwin lodged his fourth double hundred for the county and was toying with Warwickshire's toothless attack by the end as he finished on 214 not out, the highest score by a Sussex batsman against the Bears.

Yardy found the going a bit more tricky, particularly in the morning session when he scored just 15 runs from 99 deliveries faced, but he blossomed against the new ball before ending 159 not out.

One more run would have taken them past the 385 lodged by Ted Bowley and Maurice Tate against Northamptonshire in 1921 and put them second in the all-time list but neither seemed too bothered about missing out.

With Ian Ward gone from the top order, Goodwin is acutely aware that, more than ever in six seasons with Sussex, he needs to produce. His target is 2,000 runs and after this effort he is well on his way.

Yardy, meanwhile, seems to have been successfully rehabilitated himself after a disappointing England A tour last month.

The A team to face Sri Lanka in a fortnight is selected this week and while Yardy would love to be involved, he will be just as content to continue his steadfast accumulation on behalf of his county in the knowledge that he will get another chance if he repeats his performances of 2005.

He said: "My confidence was a bit down after the A tour so I felt it was important that I started the season well so this is just what I needed.

"It was hard work early on because Warwickshire were very patient but they came at us with the new ball and we were able to attack a bit more. I like batting with Murray, he's got such a good temperament and when I start getting a bit giddy he calms me down."

There has been an edge to Sussex-Warwickshire encounters in recent years and the memory of their last meeting at Edgbaston in August is still fresh. Not only did defeat effectively end Sussex's Championship challenge, James Kirtley was reported as a result of Warwickshire's discreet filming of his bowling action.

The conspiracy theorists at Hove had a field day when Kirtley, whose re-modelled action was only cleared a month ago, did not feel himself ready to return last week. But his message on the dressing room wall on Saturday was unequivocal: "Give them nothing - fight hard and don't let them have a break all day." He would have been proud of the way his teammates responded.

At lunch Sussex's lead was only 24 but Warwickshire quickly despaired of ever parting them and it was soon a question of ticking off the records.

No more than a handful of balls beat the bat all day and the batsmen certainly did not offer any chances.

Goodwin hit 23 fours and two sixes and made his runs off 359 balls while Yardy struck 17 boundaries from 384 deliveries.

Just as importantly, two of Sussex's key men have got time in the middle, a precious commodity at this stage of the season.

Sussex head to the Rose Bowl on Wednesday to face a Hampshire side without Shane Warne and Kevin Pietersen. They will be boosted by the return of Rana Naved, who joins up with the squad today, and cricket manager Mark Robinson says Kirtley has a good chance of playing.