On the opening day, Rishi Patel and Liam Trevaskis led Leicestershire to victory

Leicestershire will be pleased with their position in the match despite losing the toss. They finished day one of their Division Two match against Sussex in the Vitality County Championship on 326 for eight.

Three Leicestershire batters scored half-centuries, including 2023 county player-of-the-year Rishi Patel who hit 12 fours and two sixes in a fluid 87. Australia's Peter Handscomb also contributed with a steady 51, while all-rounder Liam Trevaskis remains unbeaten on 82 on his county debut.

During the morning session, Sussex had the home side at 63 for three on a green-tinged pitch.

However, they were unable to capitalise on their advantage despite using eight different bowlers. It is worth noting that Ollie Robinson, their England quick, was rested for this round. Fynn Hudson-Prentice was the standout bowler, taking three wickets for 50 runs.

Last summer, Patel scored 1,075 Championship runs and some may argue that he was unlucky not to be selected for the England Lions tour of India earlier this year. The right-hander is an elegant shot-maker with an aggressive mindset, making him a pleasing player to watch. These are the exact qualities that the senior England set-up has been keen to promote.

On a pitch that did not offer as much to the bowlers as Sussex might have anticipated when they chose to bowl first, Marcus Harris and Patel put on 59 runs in 61 deliveries before Sussex achieved their first breakthrough. He wasted little time in making his presence felt, hitting seven boundaries in the opening 10 overs against the new Kookaburra.

He reached his own half-century with a six over long-on off the medium pace of Tom Haines, taking 59 deliveries. In another display of boundary hitting, Patel and Leicestershire's other Australian, Peter Handscomb, added 78 runs for the fourth wicket. When left-arm spinner James Coles was introduced, Patel hit his second six down the ground.

Patel had converted half of his fifties to hundreds last season and he will likely feel disappointed that he did not make this one count for more. After lunch, he fell in the fifth over. He had been frustrated by a sequence of tidy overs and was tempted by a short ball from Danny Lamb. He gloved a relatively easy leg-side catch to John Simpson behind the stumps.

Sussex had three morning successes with the ball, which came in a cluster. Ari Karvelas, who was in for Robinson, found just enough off the pitch to have Harris caught behind. Two overs later, Fynn Hudson-Prentice made an impressive start to his spell by taking two wickets in two balls. He first uprooted Louis Kimber's off stump with a delivery that came back in and then bowled Lewis Hill with a ball that kept low.

Trevaskis made his debut innings after Patel's departure. The left-handed all-rounder joined Grace Road to get more red-ball game time after his opportunities with Durham dried up, so he has a point to prove.

In that context, he made a good first impression by providing solid support for Handscomb. They added 65 runs for the fifth wicket. Trevaskis also helped Ben Cox rebuild after the Australian was bowled by off-spinner Jack Carson. Cox was beaten in the flight while attempting to slog-sweep.

Trevaskis helped eke out a further 49 runs with Cox before the latter bottom-edged into his stumps while driving lavishly. Trevaskis also added 43 runs with Ben Mike, who was caught-and-bowled off a leading edge after the second new ball had been taken. Hudson-Prentice took his third wicket of the day as Tom Scriven was caught at midwicket.

Tom Clark, the opening batsman, who had not bowled his medium pace since September 2022 due to injury, picked up Cox's wicket.

Without Rehan Ahmed in this match, Leicestershire will hope that left-arm spinner Trevaskis can prove his value with the ball. Fast bowler Chris Wright is also missing for personal reasons.