Sussex are facing a battle to avoid a significant first innings deficit as wickets continued to tumble on the second morning of their top of the table clash with Middlesex at Hove.

Resuming on 66-3, Sussex made the worst possible start as they lost skipper Ed Joyce and Craig Cachopa cheaply.

Steve Magoffin, Luke Wright and Ben Brown staged a mini-fightback as Sussex reached lunch on 163-8 , still trailing by 106 runs.

Joyce was furious with himself after he helped a short ball from James Harris to fine leg having made eight.

Cachopa’s poor start to the season continued as he was caught behind off Toby Roland-Jones for one to leave Sussex in deep trouble on 76-5.

Wright counter-attacked well but fell for 26 when he edged Steven Finn to second slip having been badly dropped by Nick Gubbins in the previous over.

Magoffin faced 73 balls for his 25 having come in as night-watchman yesterday evening but his resistance came to an end when he lobbed a catch to mid-on to give Harris a third wicket.

Ollie Robinson was then bowled by Ollie Rayner’s first ball for two just before lunch leaving Brown unbeaten on 21.