Harry Gurney produced the first hat-trick by a Nottinghamshire bowler in seven years as his side took the upper hand on the third day of their LV= county championship match against Sussex at Hove.

Gurney’s burst at the start of the day ended the home side’s first innings on 306, a deficit of 50. Batting for a second time Notts reached 304-9 by stumps, an overall lead of 354, with James Taylor making 97, Ed Cowan 81. and Paul Franks unbeaten on 56.

Despite the quality of some of the batting, the man of the day was clearly Gurney, whose triple-wicket haul gave him figures of four for 69.

"What made it more pleasing was that it meant that the bowlers could go back to the pavilion to put their feet up." Harry Gurney

“To take a hat-trick is such a relatively rare occurrence, so to get one here is really pleasing,” he said.

“What made it more pleasing was that it meant that the bowlers could go back to the pavilion to put their feet up and allow the batters to get out there and keep the Sussex boys in the field for the rest of the day.”

All three of Gurney’s victims fell to slip catches, two of them taken by Samit Patel.

“Samit’s really turned himself into an outstanding slip catcher,” said the left-armer. “For the first I just pitched it up and Ben Brown was induced into a bit of a waft and Samit did the rest.

“The slips have been outstanding in this game. Alex (Hales) took a brilliant catch yesterday and as a bowler all you can do is put the ball into the right areas. If it’s your day, it’s your day – and today was mine.”

Monty Panesar was the final wicket to fall, to the job of Gurney. “The time when the ball was flying through the air towards Samit felt like five minutes but once I saw he’d pouched it there was complete elation.”

The start of the day couldn’t have been more dramatic with Chris Jordan run out in bizarre fashion. Ben Brown pushed the ball into the off side – in the vicinity of James Taylor.

Jordan (22) hared down the wicket but Brown wasn’t interested and sent him back. Taylor’s throw was comfortably gathered by Luke Fletcher, the bowler, who had work to do before breaking he wicket from about six feet away.

Notts immediately took the second new ball and a couple of boundaries took Sussex beyond 300 and a third bowling point.

The third over with the new cherry will enter the record books, as it featured Gurney’s heroics. His third delivery offered width. It seemed that Brown (35) deliberately tried to guide it towards third man but his connection was too fine and Samit Patel took a smart, sharp catch away to his right.

James Anyon (0) pushed at the next delivery, with the ball flying to Steven Mullaney at third slip.

Another left-hander, Monty Panesar (0) made his way to the middle but departed first ball as another snick flew to Patel, who held the chance to initiate joyous celebrations.

Gurney’s hat-trick was the first by a Notts bowler in the championship since Charlie Shreck achieved similar results against Middlesex at Lord’s in 2006.

Notts began their reply and soon lost Alex Hales (0). After Anyon had bowled the opening over to Ed Cowan, Steve Magoffin dismissed the opener with the first ball of the second.

Hales clipped the Australian to midwicket where Luke Wright took the catch – meaning it was four wickets in four balls from the Cromwell Road End.

The Notts second innings eerily looked to be following a similar pattern to the first as Michael Lumb (8) then edged Magoffin behind but Cowan and Taylor took it through to lunch without any further alarms.

Post-lunch it was all about steady accumulation as Cowan and Taylor made the most of every single scoring opportunity to put Notts into a strong position.

Both men hit maximums – Taylor pulling Jordan over deep square leg and Cowan helping a leg side delivery away from Magoffin.

That shot took the Australian to his fifty (121 balls, 6x4, 1x6) and his partner soon matched him (97 balls, 5x4, 1x6).

The stand had reached 151 when Sussex found some success from the sixth bowler they employed, as Chris Nash managed to clip Cowan’s off stump just before tea.

There was more disappointment as Taylor fell on 97 for the second time this season, given out to a leg side catch by the ‘keeper off Jordan.

Samit Patel (18) looked intent on matching his first innings heroics as he calmly lifted Nash over his head for a towering six but he went in exactly the same manner as Taylor.

Jordan then took his spell to 3-11 from just 21 deliveries as he had Steven Mullaney (5) fencing at another short-pitched delivery to be taken behind square by Luke Wells.

Paul Franks and Ajmal Shahzad briefly joined forces but the second new ball gave the day a further twist.

Steve Magoffin bowled Shahzad (3) and then saw off Luke Fletcher (0) first ball, thanks to a slip catch by Ed Joyce.

It would have been an ironic turn of events if Gurney had arrived to face the hat-trick delivery himself but the over had ended.

Franks went on the offensive and scorched to a stunning fifty (55 balls, 10x4) – denying the Australian his own hat-trick in the process. The quality of Franks’ hitting was as clean as any in the match, although Gurney had a final reason to celebrate, effortlessly lofting Nash for four.