They'd probably disagree, but Neil Carter, Gary Keedy, Amjad Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed and Devon Malcolm could hardly be ranked among county cricket's batting luminaries.

Try telling that to the Sussex bowlers though.

No member of that quintet bats any higher than number nine for his team yet all of them, at some stage this season, have frustrated the county with unexpected heroics at the end of an innings.

Yesterday it was Warwickshire's Carter's turn. In an hour of mayhem at Hove he scored the fastest Championship ton of the season as the Sussex attack were left bemused and frustrated by a tenth wicket century partnership for the second time this summer.

Carter's 103 even eclipsed a fifth hundred at Hove this year for Murray Goodwin at the end of a thoroughly entertaining second day which ended with Sussex 166-4 in their second innings, a lead of 225.

In May, Keedy and Stuart Law's stand of 145 effectively denied Sussex victory in a rain-affected match against Lancashire. Kent's Khan got on their nerves when he biffed a maiden fifty at No.9 in July and Malcolm's season's best 24 not out at Grace Road a couple of weeks ago helped tilt a low-scoring game Leicestershire's way.

Mushtaq's 47 couldn't prevent Surrey from losing at Hove last month, but there's no doubt one of the factors in securing the Pakistani wrist spinner's services for next season is his ability to get rid of tail-enders before they cause too much damage.

A fourth century opening stand of the season between Richard Montgomerie and Goodwin made sure Sussex's chances of beating Warwickshire for the first time in a decade weren't unduly harmed by the unlikely alliance of Carter and Jamie Spires, but that will be little consolation to the Sussex bowlers.

The visitors were facing the very real prospect of having to follow on for only the second time this season when Carter came in at No.9 after Billy Taylor had produced two superb outswingers to remove Tony Frost and Keith Piper in the space of four balls on his way to a career-best 5-103.

Carter helped add 29 with Mo Sheikh, but when Taylor bowled Sheikh and Alan Richardson with successive deliveries Warwickshire were still 29 short of the follow-on target as Spires, who hadn't even made double figures in Championship before yesterday, walked to the wicket.

Carter had given notice of his latent talent when he made an unbeaten 38 when the teams met at Edgbaston in July. Tempted no doubt by the close proximity of the boundary on the scoreboard side, he proceeded to take apart a Sussex attack who should have learned by now that the best way to remove tail-enders is to slip into one-day mode and bowl yorker length and straight.

Robin Martin-Jenkins finally produced just such a ball to remove Carter, but not until he had belted nine fours and six sixes off just 71 deliveries.

The majority of them were pulled effortlessly over that ridiculously short 51-yard boundary although there was nothing wrong with the quality of his straight driving either. Two balls disappeared into Palmeira Avenue and were never seen again.

Even the excellent Taylor's figures were spoiled while Mark Davis was hit out of the attack after conceding 18 in an over. By then Spires was swinging his arms as freely as his partner as the pair improved on Warwickshire's previous best tenth wicket partnership, which had stood for 28 years, by 40 runs.

Instead of a hefty first innings advantage, Sussex's lead was a more modest 59, but ten minutes of the heavy roller between innings seemed to subdue the variable bounce which had been evident earlier in the day and Montgomerie and Goodwin took advantage.

For once, Goodwin was the dominant partner. He raced to his 50 off 55 balls and reached his century six overs before the close when he drove Mark Wagh through the off side for his 16th boundary.

Montgomerie passed 1,000 runs for the third time in his career before becoming the first of two victims for Sheikh who later had Matt Prior caught at point off a sliced drive.

In between, Tony Cottey was left stranded two-thirds of the way down the pitch after Goodwin sent him back when he turned the ball to mid-wicket and set off for a run.

In contrast to Goodwin, Cottey can't buy a score at headquarters but the Zimbabwean must have shared his team-mate's disappointment when he was caught at slip driving at Mark Wagh's off breaks in the last over of the day after making 111 off 135 balls with 18 fours.

While Taylor took the bowling honours earlier in the day, there was encouragement too for Paul Hutchison who got his inswinger going to take his first wickets since April.