Sussex 294 and 246 for 1 (Haines 117*, Hughes 91) lead Somerset 201 (Rew 80*, Hudson-Prentice 4-31) by 339 runs

You have to go back to September 2015 for the last time Sussex won a game in Division One of the County Championship - or May of the same summer for victory at Hove. And while it would be premature to say that decade-long wait is about to come to an end, they could hardly want for a more advantageous position after two days of this encounter with Somerset.

Only two members of the 2015 squad are still involved at Sussex: Ollie Robinson, currently hors de combat with a foot injury, and Fynn Hudson-Prentice, in his second spell at the club after being released (Tymal Mills, now in his benefit year, is another survivor but no longer involved in red-ball). As many as four are still playing for other counties - bonus point if you can name them* - which tells you something about Sussex's tribulations in the intervening period.

Under Paul Farbrace, they have finally hit upon the right blend of youth and experience. On the back of winning the Division Two title, Farbrace eschewed talk of survival and declared that Sussex were aiming for top four as a minimum. After acquitting themselves well in their opening-round trip to Edgbaston, they have lived up to such ambitions by dictating terms against Somerset.

A handy 93-run lead on first innings was secured in large part thanks to the efforts of Sean Hunt, a strapping 23-year-old left-armer, in the side for Robinson, who claimed his maiden five-wicket haul. That provided the stage for Tom Haines, Sussex's homegrown England Lions opener, to record his 13th career hundred - and his first in the Championship's top tier.

Haines was briefly catapulted into the captaincy during the upheaval that accompanied the departure of Ben Brown (you can have that one) in 2021, a season in which he scored 1000 first-class runs, but under Farbrace has been allowed to concentrate on his own game. This was a chanceless innings as he and Daniel Hughes put on a breezy opening partnership of 184 - his third century stand with Hughes since the Australian signed last year - to leave Somerset looking for snookers in their bid to avoid defeat.

Haines went to three figures with his 12th four, to go with a brace of sixes, as he skipped out to smite Jack Leach's left-arm spin through long-on. He and Sussex's other Horsham Tom, No. 3 Clark, added an unbroken fifty stand to stretch the lead towards 350 with six sessions left in the game.

Having been blunted for exactly 200 overs in Worcestershire's second innings during their draw at Taunton, Somerset looked more than a little listless here, with the honourable exception of James Rew, whose busy, unbeaten 80 from 83 balls prevented the day from being a complete rout. Leach was the one bowler to enjoy success, Hughes edging an attempted cut behind as a century beckoned; their only consolation may be an easing pitch, lacking the moisture of day one, which could push Sussex towards a more cautious declaration.

After Hudson-Prentice had provided the spark in a raucous conclusion to the first day, Sussex drove home the advantage during Saturday's morning session - that despite a partnership of 110 for the eighth wicket between Rew and Lewis Gregory, which staved off the threat, however unlikely, of Somerset being made to follow on.

Hunt sharpened their concern with two early wickets. Tom Lammonby was defeated by extra bounce and seam movement as he inside-edged through to the diving John Simpson, Sussex's keeper-captain then clinging on at the second attempt to remove Kasey Aldridge as Hunt jagged one across the right-hander from over the wicket. That left Somerset in sickly mood at 79 for 7, with 21-year-old Rew shouldering much of the burden during a doughty, unbeaten knock.

Rew was the support act last week, his 152 against Worcestershire outshone by Tom Banton's triple-hundred. He looked in dapper form, pulling and driving with assurance as he glided along at close to a run a ball, his one moment of genuine concern coming when a half-formed jab at Jayden Seales flew over the slip cordon for a boundary that brought up the century stand.

It took Hunt just four balls to separate the pair on his return to the attack, though Gregory will not reflect on the shot with any satisfaction as he chipped tamely to mid-on. At 6ft 5in and with the ability to swing the ball from a high action, it is not hard to see why Sussex signed Hunt out of Surrey's academy in 2021, though it has taken him time to hone those raw attributes. Leaner and meaner - and not just because of the rogue moustache that is currently popular in the Sussex dressing-room - he wasted no time in docking the Somerset tail, Simpson taking his tally of catches in the innings to five.

* Ben Brown, Luke Wells, Chris Jordan, Harry Finch