Ben Brown completed a battling century as Sussex took control on the second morning of their opening County Championship match at Hampshire.

Brown was unbeaten on 129 at lunch as Sussex moved from 300-6 overnight to a commanding position of 412-7.

The wicketkeeper played cautiously after resuming on 85 in the morning before bringing up his sixth first class century – from 169 balls with 14 fours – by cutting Chris Wood to the boundary.

He was given good support from Ajmal Shahzad as the pair put on 73 for the seventh wicket before Shahzad was bowled off an inside edge by Gareth Berg for 35.

Steve Magoffin helped continue Sussex’s progress with an unbeaten 37 in a partnership which is already worth 65.