Worcestershire 7 for 0 trail Sussex 284 (Carson 102, Haines 53, Taylor 5-56) by 277 runs

The question of who's winning is often a complicated one in cricket. At Hove, Worcestershire won the toss, before Sussex's openers jounced along to 80 without loss in the first 90 minutes. Having apparently gained the upper hand, the home side then squandered any advantage by losing 6 for 8 either side of lunch. But just as Worcestershire seemed to have got on top, Jack Carson strode forward to win the day with a marvelous, maiden first-class hundred.

Carson's impassioned celebration on reaching three figures told of personal significance, while the accompanying standing ovation around the ground indicated its importance to Sussex as a collective. Carson had walked out with the score on 88 for 6 but bent his shoulder to the wheel to add almost 200 for the last four wickets - aided in no small part by the dogged contribution of Sussex's debutant No. 11, James Hayes, who faced 126 balls to finish on 33 not out.

While the focus for England selection discussions at Hove has centred on Tom Haines, whose half-century propped up Sussex during the morning as well as extending his lead at the top of the Division One run-scoring charts, it may not be long before Carson is touted as a more rounded alternative to Shoiab Bashir in the Test side. Both Haines and Carson are likely to come into contention for the England Lions matches against India A at the end of the month.

Hayes, a last-minute loan signing from Nottinghamshire, was only in the side due to an injury suffered by Sussex's West Indies international Jayden Seales. The 23-year-old, with just three List A appearances to his name, survived a tough chance to third slip before he had scored, as well as a more straightforward stumping that Gareth Roderick couldn't collect when he was on 27, but showed a solid technique and impressive fortitude throughout.

Carson's pugnacious innings was chanceless, although he got off the mark with a fence wide of the slip cordon that went for four. He found support all the way down the order, adding 49 with Ari Karvelas for the ninth wicket and then 73 with Hayes, as Sussex wrestled the initiative back on a topsy-turvy day. Worcestershire showed character during their mid-innings fightback, Tom Taylor playing the pub landlord with a five-for to restore order, but they will have to dig deep with the bat to put winning this game back on the agenda.

After the high-rolling start, Sussex's top order went bankrupt, in the words of Ernest Hemingway, "gradually, then suddenly". Haines and Daniel Hughes raised 46 without loss from the first 10 overs (40 of those in boundaries), to leave Worcestershire fans wondering quite what Brett D'Oliveira had been thinking at the toss. Ben Gibbon's introduction had seen him cuffed unceremoniously for three consecutive fours by Hughes, but he followed up with back-to-back maidens, while Matthew Waite made a similarly thrifty start from the Sea End.

Ever so steadily, Worcestershire began to get a grip on the scoring, and Waite made his frustrations clear as Haine twice edged him for four in the space of three balls. Another brace of fours in Waite's next over bore a more authoritative stamp, as Haines whipped through midwicket and behind square to bring up a 67-ball half-century. At the end of the 22nd over, Sussex were 80 for 0 and perhaps envisioning a bountiful day of run-harvesting beneath clear blue skies.

Then came the crash. Taylor found Hughes' outside edge as the Australian aimed a lavish drive to be caught at second slip, before removing Tom Clark in the same over, the Sussex No. 3 padding up to a ball that looked like it would have troubled middle and off. The scoreboard was still stuck on 80 when Tom Alsop feathered a catch behind to give Taylor his third; and with only one run added, James Coles perished attempting to drive the final ball of the morning through cover, a thick edge off Ben Allison ending in the hands of fourth slip.

In the Spen Cama Pavilion, suddenly there was only one thing on the menu. "You should never give your wicket away before lunch," one Sussex member lamented, though more in sorrow than in anger. On Clark, who had received his county cap before play, the verdict was more damning: "He should give it back!" Worse was to come for Sussex, though sadly the view on John Simpson's even more disastrous leave went unrecorded.

In the first over back, Haines edged Taylor into the hands of Allison at first slip, whose attempted juggle was taken by the sub, Rob Jones, at second. With the score still on 81, Sussex had now lost 5 for 1 in the space of 6.4 overs. Simpson, so often the bulwark at No. 6, then tried to let one go only for Taylor to bring the ball back to hit the top of off stump. Having been 0 for 15 from his opening spell, Taylor now had 5 for 20 from 10.3, Sussex almost single-handedly halted in their tracks by his 33-ball rampage.

In the end, Sussex's stuttering progression to 284 represented a significant recovery. Although Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Ollie Robinson both departed to soft dismissals off Gibson and Ethan Brookes respectively, Carson was adroit in marshalling the lower order, moving to a 69-ball fifty during his stand with Karvelas and then continuing to pick off boundaries, including one flicked six over midwicket, as he pushed on past his previous first-class best of 97, in the process securing Sussex a batting point that had not looked likely when he walked in.