What’s all that about the darkest hour coming before the dawn?

In Sussex’s case, that darkest hour probably came in the dazzling sunshine of Monday afternoon as they toiled against Derbyshire at Hove.

We don’t know yet whether the comeback which followed brought us a new dawn.

But it felt a bit like that as they clinched victory two afternoons later.

At one stage on Monday, Sussex looked rather dishevelled.

Derbyshire were running up one of the biggest totals in their history with no alarms whatsoever and there appeared no way the long wait for a Sussex win could end.

After a miss-field, one home supporter bellowed: “Come on!”

It was mentioned in the match report.

Spectator shouts “Come on!” It’s not exactly ‘Welcome to Hell’ territory, is it?

But it’s as clear a sign of discontent, or mutiny, as you are going to get on a tranquil afternoon of Championship cricket.

The sheer exasperation in that lone voice resonated around the near-empty ground.

That long afternoon, with Sussex drifting and some confusion - later explained - over the captaincy, might have been their lowest ebb.

Or maybe it was when they slipped to 27-2 in reply to 551.

From then on, they climbed their way out of a huge hole, bit by bit, before seizing the chance.

Ali Orr, whose century led them home, said: “They could have batted on and killed the chances.

“The fact they pulled out, there was always the chance there we could win.

“It has always been a good wicket.

“It spun a little bit but it’s a good wicket.

“We believed in ourselves and I think this is a blueprint for how we need to play our cricket from now on.”

It was quite a comeback although two of Orr’s biggest supporters missed his perfectly paced knock of 141.

He joked: “Unfortunately my parents, after my performance in the first innings, probably weren’t backing me to do anything.

“They weren’t here so hopefully they were watching at home!”

He also laughed off a half-joking suggestion that he is a veteran of this Sussex team at the age of 21.

But, if we are talking about blueprints, this mix of youth and experience might be it.

This was Sussex’s first Championship win in 20 games – since young talent gave fine support to centurion Stiaan Van Zyl and 13-wicket Ollie Robinson in victory at Cardiff.

Too often since then, too much has been asked of the youngsters.

This week, Jack Brooks and Mohammad Rizwan played senior roles with ball and bat.

And Steven Finn stepped up to take some captaincy responsibility.

Sussex have got themselves into decent positions in previous games but then wilted just as hope was growing.

This time, Orr felt there as no expectation as they went out for their second innings. So no pressure, which was ideal.

As Orr and Tom Alsop upped the tempo approaching tea, hope turned into the type of confidence they have not felt all season.

Orr said: “We go into the final session needing 169 and I think everybody was thinking, ‘We are going to win this’.

“For the first time, there were 11 of us the changing room thinking we are going to win this game, which is a powerful thing.

“Especially as two batters, going out there knowing the team believe in us and think we are going to win.

“Everybody was on the balcony supporting.

“It made it so much easier for us out there fighting, knowing we have got nine men there behind us.

“We have got such a young team, it was important we got our first win.

“We had a loss to Middlesex when they chased 180 in the last session.

“For us to do the same shows we’ve got the skills and we can also do that.

“We are gaining that confidence and growing as a team, trying to reach those heights that Sussex used to be.

“Hopefully we can now get to where we were.”

Orr gave huge credit to the Sussex bowlers for the way they set about Derbyshire on the third afternoon once they had, surprisingly, been spared the follow-on.

He also noted the fielding “was so much better than the first innings”.

As the target neared, he said Sussex reined themselves in emotionally until the job was done.

Orr said: “When we got over the line, that’s when it felt real.

“Now we’ve got that win, we can feel a lot more comfortable on these situations.

“It’s not about trust in the batsmen, it’s just that we haven’t had that experience of winning so we don’t know what it’s like.”

Some relief involved, maybe?

“I’d say more than anything it’s pure joy and happiness.

“We’ve had draws which we would look at and say they were positive draws in our favour.

“We have played well in those games.

“But no one likes to lose. T20 cricket, four-day, 50-overs. It’s all the same.

“If you lose a game of cricket, it bloody hurts.

“Winning like this such a great feeling.

“I wouldn’t say relief is the right word because it is making us sound more negative.

“It was joy and happiness.”