After enjoying their best start to a season since the advent of twodivisional cricket Sussex were probably entitled to bad day - but this was a bad day with knobs on.

The pitch was low and slow - even by Hove standards - with both wicketkeepers standing up to fast-medium bowlers. But Sussex should still not have been dismissed for 143, their lowest total since September 2004.

Openers Richard Montgomerie and Carl Hopkinson, who both played on, could consider themselves unfortunate but too many of their team-mates were guilty of injudicious shot selection or did not appear to be in the mood to tough it out.

Batting was never easy. Graeme Swann got several of his off-breaks to turn which will encourage Mushtaq Ahmed and it is hard to recall the Hove outfield being so verdant, even for the time of year. Batsmen rarely got full value for their shots.

Only when Mike Yardy and Murray Goodwin were putting on 54 for the third wicket did Sussex hint at prosperity and even during their partnership the run rate only just got above two an over.

Matt Prior made a sparky 33 but cursed himself all the way back up the dressing room steps after being lured down the pitch by Swann and losing his off stump. Sussex then lost their last five wickets for 29 and, more worryingly, their last four in 16 balls either side of tea.

And before anyone points the blame at Chris Adams for batting first it ought to be pointed out that no captain who has called correctly at Hove has put the opposition in for more than three years.

The champions' quartet of seamers deserve some credit.

Ryan Sidebottom and AJ Harris set the tone with the new ball, conceding just 27 runs in their opening eight-over spells and taking a wicket each.

Paul Franks was not use before lunch but he made up for it by removing Goodwin and Yardy in five overs after the interval down the slope.

The evergreen Mark Ealham was as accurate as ever and even David Hussey got in on the act, bowling his former Horsham team-mate Robin Martin-Jenkins in his solitary over.

That just about summed up Sussex's day.

Sidebottom took just three overs to make the breakthrough after the start had been delayed for 30 minutes while a damp outfield dried out when Montgomerie, whose seven Championship innings have brought just 78 runs, played on as he shouldered arms.

Hopkinson could consider himself unfortunate after playing back in Harris' fourth over and watching the ball roll onto the base of his stumps. Sussex eked out just 45 runs in 28 overs before lunch but there were signs that the batsmen were getting on top when Goodwin scored only his third boundary off Franks only to fall in the same over, under-edging a cut which wicketkeeper Chris Read snaffled inches off the turf.

Sidebottom got the ball to do just enough off the seam to unseat Adams and an hour after lunch Notts claimed the key wicket of the obdurate Yardy for 25.

Prior spoiled Franks' figures by driving him through the covers for three boundaries in his last over. Finally, it seemed, Sussex had loosened the shackles but it was only an illusion.

Swann came on, tied an end down and eventually lured Prior to his demise as he came down the pitch hitting through the leg side.

The rest came quietly, any hopes of a lower order fightback effectively ended when Martin-Jenkins and Luke Wright fell in successive overs immediately before tea.

By the close Nottinghamshire were only 70 in arrears but they did lose two wickets. The out-of-form Russell Warren lost his off stump in Jason Lewry's fifth over and Rana Naved's switch to the sea end paid immediate dividends when he trapped Hussey leg before.

Notts captain Jason Gallian had to retire hurt after he ducked into a short ball from Rana which got stuck in his helmet grille but Sussex will need to strike and strike early today.