Ben Brown was out for 99 at Hove today before Warwickshire’s openers pushed their team close to promotion.

The Sussex skipper top-scored as his side’s ten-man batting line-up were all out for 343, 97 runs behind and just short of another batting point.

Their hopes of then making early inroads with the ball were frustrated as Warwickshire openers Will Rhodes (76 not out) and Dom Sibley (43 not out) reached 141-0 by the time bad light forced an early close, a lead of 238.

Brown, who shared a sixth-wicket stand worth 196 with David Wiese (93), was out shortly after lunch as Jonathan Trott held a decent catch low down at slip off Jeetan Patel.

It was his second score in the 90s against Warwickshire this season and came off 167 balls, with 12 fours.

Sussex, batting without the injured Tom Haines, were all out as Sibley held a super catch at second slip after Jofra Archer slashed at the pacy Olly Stone outside off stump.

The hosts introduced spinner Danny Briggs after only five overs as they tried to engineer the win they need to keep Championship promotion hopes alive.

A draw will see Warwickshire up while Kent have already secured their ticket to the top flight.