Robinson and Carson strike but Sussex let advantage slip
Sussex let the initiative slip after putting Somerset in at Taunton.
Tom Lammonby hit 60 and 19-year-old Archie Vaughan a career-best 70 not out as a shuffled Somerset batting line-up posted 317 for six in warm sunshine after losing the toss in the Rothesay County Championship Division One match.
James Rew contributed 46 and Tom Abell 42 on a wicket offering just enough assistance to seam and spin to keep the Sussex bowlers interested throughout the day.
There were two wickets each for Ollie Robinson and Jack Carson as the visiting attack kept a tight rein on the scoring rate for most of the three sessions.
With the pitch an inviting shade of green, it was no surprise when Sussex skipper John Simpson elected to field first, despite cloudless skies and a short boundary on the town side of the ground.
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There was a surprise for home supporters when Josh Davey and skipper Lewis Gregory, both more used to operating in the lower order, marched out as a new opening partnership, keen to help their side overcome some poor starts in Championship cricket.
They had taken the score to 21 in the sixth over when Gregory edged a defensive push off Nathan McAndrew to Tom Clark at second slip and departed for 15. But the experiment could be deemed a success as Davey settled in to play with patience and sound technique.
He and Lammonby put together a half-century stand off 109 balls and it wasn't until the 26th over that Sussex struck again, Davey, on 28, judged to have feathered a back-foot defensive shot off Robinson to wicketkeeper Simpson, who took a good low catch.
Rew had progressed to 46 when attempting to drive a full ball from off-spinner Carson, who was finding some turn, and edging to Tom Haines at slip to make it 149 for three. A single off the same bowler took Lammonby to an impressive 120-ball fifty, including 5 fours, but he too perished unexpectedly with the score on 176, caught behind nicking a back-foot defensive shot off Carson.
Abell was dropped at slip on 13 off the left-arm spin of James Coles, but Sussex continued to make inroads as Tom Banton fell for six, caught at slip off Fynn Hudson-Prentice.
Abell fell in the third over with the second new ball, fending a ball from Robinson to Clark at second slip, just when he was starting to flow.
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