Sussex claimed their first Championship win of the season at Hove on Friday, but victory over Kent was achieved at some cost.

Jason Lewry could be out for up to six weeks after he suffered a suspected broken nose and a cut below his eye when he collided with Carl Hopkinson taking a one-handed catch to dismiss Ed Smith.

Hopkinson had only just come onto the field as substitute for Tony Cottey who will have an x-ray on a suspected broken thumb after he was hit on the right hand in the field earlier in the same over.

Skipper Chris Adams said: "We'll know more today, but Jason got a nasty clout and has gone to see the surgeon. The physio is 95 per cent sure that Tony hasn't broken his thumb but we won't know until he has had the x-ray."

The injuries failed to take the gloss off an impressive Sussex bowling performance spearheaded by James Kirtley who took 6-26, his best figures in Division One, as the county won by 133 runs after bowling out Kent for 159.

Adams added: "I said to the lads you can't build character, you have either got it or you haven't and we have proved with the way we bounced back after losing to Middlesex in similar circumstances last week that we've got plenty of it."

Sussex now switch their attention to the National League and successive Division Two games over the Bank Holiday weekend, starting with a trip to the Rosebowl to face Hampshire tomorrow (11am).