Ed Joyce steered Sussex through a tricky opening morning in their County Championship clash with Leicestershire at Hove.

The Ireland international made an unbeaten 40 as Sussex recovered from the early losses of Chris Nash and Matt Machan to reach lunch on 88-2.

Joyce has so far added 65 for the third wicket with Ross Taylor who is 28 not out.

Sussex elected to bat first after winning the toss – with Leicestershire opting not to automatically bowl first – but lost Nash in the sixth over when he edged Ben Raine to second slip for just four.

Raine struck again in a disciplined opening spell when he trapped Machan lbw for four to leave Sussex in trouble of 23-2.