Sussex slipped into the division one relegation zone after suffering a heavy defeat at the hands of Nottinghamshire at Horsham.

Sussex lost 16 wickets in 84 overs as they were bowled out for 213 and 254 to go down by an innings and 103 runs with a day to spare.

Matt Machan provided some resistance with a century in the second innings while Luke Wright made two 50s in the day but the pair found little support.

The result saw Sussex slip to second from bottom in the table, three points below Worcestershire who could pull further clear if they escape defeat against Yorkshire.

Nottinghamshire have climbed above Somerset in the table and are now 23 points ahead of Ed Joyce’s men with five games remaining of the season.

A bad day was made worse by the fact Sussex claimed only one batting bonus point as they were bowled out for just 213 in their first innings having resumed on 157-4.

Brett Hutton made the initial breakthrough as he trapped Craig Cachopa lbw for 13 before Gurney picked up the wickets of Ben Brown and Wright.

Brown gloved a half-hearted pull and was caught behind down the leg side while Wright edged to slip having brought up his eighth 50 of the season from 86 balls.

Ollie Robinson was stuck on nought for 21 balls before losing patience and edging Gary Keedy behind going for an ugly slog across the line.

At that point Sussex were 198-8 but Peter Burgoyne and Steve Magoffin secured a batting point before Burgoyne was bowled by Luke Wood.

Matt Hobden was the last to fall when he drove loosely at Keedy to give wicketkeeper Chris Read his fifth catch.

It was a similar story in the second innings after Luke Wells had fallen in the first over for a duck.

Machan at least gave the crowd at Cricketfield Road something to cheer as he brought up his third century of the season from 99 balls.

But once the left-hander fell – edging the excellent Gurney to second slip for 108 – Sussex’s batting subsided for the second time in a day, losing three wicket for nine runs in 22 balls.

Wright blasted Samit Patel for a couple of sixes as he notched his eighth half century of the season before being caught behind off Keedy for 67.

Notts hammered home the final nail with ten overs remaining in the day when Peter Burgoyne was trapped lbw by Luke Wood.