All to play for on Pears’ Chester Road return
Worcestershire all-rounder Wayne Parnell produced a superb four-wicket burst as Kidderminster’s Chester Road ground hosted County Championship cricket for the first time since 2008.
Parnell had Sussex reeling at 102-6, but visiting captain Ben Brown continued his rich vein of form with the bat as he and Chris Jordan led the recovery.
Brown became only the second Division Two player to pass 500 Championship runs for the campaign and his unbeaten 64 followed on from 156 not out, 60 not out, 131, 107 and 33 in his previous five knocks.
He was given excellent support by Jordan during an unbroken partnership of 83 after the pair came together early in the afternoon session with Sussex struggling on 102-6 following another impressive performance from Parnell.
When rain brought a premature end to day one’s play shortly after 3pm, the visitors had recovered to 185-6 off 51.5 overs with Jordan 44 not out.
Wolverhampton’s Adam Finch, formerly of Himley, took the new ball and made the first breakthrough of the day to remove makeshift opener Will Beer, who edged through to wicketkeeper Ben Cox.
