Yorkshire 176 for 7 (Root 67, Hunt 3-61) lead Sussex 150 (Hill 4-22) by 26 runs
Seventeen wickets fell on the first day at Hove as second division leaders Sussex hit back after they were bowled out for 150 by Yorkshire in the Vitality County Championship.
Joe Root showed his class with 67 but no one else made more than Sussex's top scorer James Coles (38). Yorkshire were 176 for 7 at stumps and how much they can add to their lead of 26 will be crucial to their efforts of securing a first victory of the season.
Root enjoyed an absorbing battle with England team-mate Ollie Robinson, who bowled two quality spells and was unlucky not to pick up more than one wicket.
Root shared stands of 42 for the fifth wicket with James Wharton and 58 for the sixth wicket with Jonathan Tattersall, as he passed 50 for the fourth time in seven Championship innings which have now brought him 432 runs in his preparations for the international summer. But having moved to 67 off 88 balls a misjudgement saw him struck on the back leg by Tom Haines working into the on side.
For the other batters it was hard work. On a well-grassed pitch the ball moved lavishly off the seam at times, but there were some loose shots too and 12 of the wickets fell to slip catches.
Sussex weren't surprised to be put in, but Haines and Tom Clark serenely added 42 in 6.5 overs. It proved a false dawn, though, and apart from a fifth-wicket stand of 30 between Cheteshwar Pujara and Coles, Yorkshire's disciplined all-seam attack held sway.
George Hill led the way with 4 for 22 including two in five balls in his opening spell as Haines was taken at second slip and Alsop at third playing at deliveries which nipped off the seam. He returned after lunch to pick up Danny Lamb with his first ball back and then removed Jack Carson in the same over.
Hill got good support, notably from Ben Coad (3 for 47). Coad had angled one in which seamed away to make the breakthrough when he removed Clark. Sussex skipper John Simpson made his fourth successive single-figure score before he was lbw shuffling forward and Tattersall dived in front of slip to remove Fynn Hudson-Prentice.
Arguably the crucial wicket was claimed by the highly-regarded Dom Leech with the ninth ball of his first appearance of the season when Pujara was superbly caught by Tattersall, again diving in front of first slip. Coles then watched as four wickets fell for 18 runs in 8.1 overs before he was last out, holing out to mid-on.
Sussex had been dismissed in 44.1 overs but their bowlers soon hit back. Robinson beat the bat on numerous occasions with the new ball, but it was left-armer Sean Hunt who made the breakthrough with his fifth delivery which Finlay Bean edged to second slip. Adam Lyth was taken at third slip before Robinson was rewarded in his sixth over with the crucial wicket of skipper Shan Masood, fencing to third slip
Hill played a loose drive at Hudson-Prentice to the last ball before tea but by then Root had begun to get the measure of the conditions. Wharton gave him good support until hitting across the line to a yorker-length ball which gave Hudson-Prentice his second wicket and Hunt returned to have Tattersall caught at third slip just before the close.
