Four counties are battling to avoid relegation from division one as a fascinating climax to the Championship season shapes up.

Sussex are fifth after they collected ten points from the drawn game against Somerset at Taunton.

But they are just four points above Hampshire, who are immediately above doomed Worcesterhire, with Warwickshire and Yorkshire also in the mix. All four teams have four games remaining with Sussex due to face both Warwickshire and Yorkshire at Hove in September.

For now the players will enjoy some much-needed time off after an exhausting schedule of cricket in both formats in recent weeks.

In particular, off-spinner Ollie Rayner and all-rounder Dwayne Smith will be resting sore arms today after they sent down 88 overs between them in Somerset’s first innings which ended on 521-6.

Rayner took 4-185 from 52 overs and Smith 2-91 from 36 and no Sussex bowlers have bowled more overs in an innings this season.

Arul Suppiah (133) and Craig Kieswetter (135) both scored their third hundreds of the season as the number of centurions on a pitch Sussex coach Mark Robinson called “the Taunton road” rose to five, including Murray Goodwin’s record-breaking 344 not out.

Robinson said: “It’s a shame we lost so much time to the weather on the third day but it was very flat and unforgiving for the bowlers.

“The boys have had a very intense period of cricket over the last month. We’ll re-charge our batteries this week and go again against Durham on Friday in the Pro40.”