Mushtaq Ahmed produced a special performance at Horsham and the Sussex leg spinner holds the key to their hopes of forcing a second Championship victory of the season.

Pietersen appeared capable of taking Nottinghamshire past their follow-on target of 470 almost single-handedly when he was blazing his way to a 75-ball century.

He put on 193 in just 26 overs either side of lunch with 18-year-old Bilal Shafayat, a future England player on the evidence of his stylish 71, when Mushtaq suddenly started to make things happen.

He removed Shafayat and Chris Read in three balls and then took the last three wickets as Notts lost their last six for 89. Bowled out for 421, they were batting again after tea with a deficit of 198.

Skipper Chris Adams kept Mushtaq back until the 20th over of Notts' second innings but by then Darren Bicknell and Jason Gallian had established a solid platform.

Bicknell, batting with a runner because of a calf strain, has scored 12 boundaries in an unbeaten 61 and Nottinghamshire were set to resume today on 103-0, 95 behind. Seperating them early held the key to Sussex's hopes.

Mushtaq finished with 6-163 from 37.1 overs, all bowled from the Town End into a strong breeze and was expected to do a lot of bowling again today.

Although Pietersen treated him with the same disdain he had shown the other Sussex bowlers, none of his team-mates were able to take as many liberties with the Pakistani leg-spinner despite the desperately slow nature of a pitch which has already yielded 1,143 runs.

Shafayat could consider himself unlucky to be given out lbw to Mushtaq's quicker ball after getting a fair stride forward and the spectators were probably as disappointed as he was because it ended a stand that was arguably more entertaining than the rollicking alliance between Matt Prior and Kevin Innes which illuminated Sussex's first innings.

Shafayat, all wristy elegance, nimble feet and an unerring ability to find the gaps, made his runs off 74 balls and showed little respect for reputations, hitting Mushtaq for two of his three sixes as well as seven boundaries.

For sheer brute force and timing though you will not see many better innings than the one played by Pietersen.

The 22-year-old was brought to England by former Notts coach Clive Rice and became the youngest batsman to score 1,000 runs in his debut season two years ago.

He struggled to emulate those feats last year, but it will be hard for the selectors to ignore him if he maintains this form when he qualifies for England in a year's time.

No one was spared, not even James Kirtley who definitely is not used to being pulled and driven with the apparent contempt Pietersen displayed yesterday. The pair had one or two verbal exchanges, most noticably after Pietersen had top-edged a very quick bouncer for six over fine leg.

His hundred, which he reached when he swatted Mushtaq to the mid-wicket boundary, came off 75 balls, two slower than Shafayat's effort against Durham UCCE which is the quickest of the season so far.

As Mushtaq worked his way through the tail, Pietersen was forced to temper his attacking instincts but he had faced just 136 balls for his 156 which included 17 fours and four sixes when he was last out, stumped by Tim Ambrose trying to deposit Mushtaq somewhere in the direction of Guildford.

Mushtaq took the last three wickets after Robin Martin-Jenkins had Steve Elworthy caught behind to end a stand of 37 for the seventh wicket.

Greg Smith became the first batsman to be bowled in the match when he was defeated by a leg break which spun sharply while Andy Harris perished slogging horribly across a straight one.

Things had gone according to plan for Sussex until Pietersen and Shafayat joined forces 45 minutes before lunch. Kirtley, with the wind behind him, fairly tore in from the Railway End to beat Darren Bicknell and Usman Afzaal for pace while Guy Welton became Mushtaq's first victim after making his first Championship 50 of the season.

Notts: 103 for 0 (34 overs); 421 all out (1st innings)

Sussex: 619 for 7 dec