Samit Patel’s 20th first class century was the highlight of the first day as Nottinghamshire reached stumps on 408-5 in their LV= County Championship match against Sussex at Hove.Patel was unbeaten on 142 at the close, having added 160 with Chris Read, who finished on 61 not out.

On the day that the south coast club celebrated their 175th anniversary, it was a tough final session for the home attack as the two experienced batsmen added 160 with Patel closing in on the 157 he scored on this ground last season.

"Over the last two months Samit has played four or five outstanding innings and he’s really timing the ball beautifully." Mick Newell

Mick Newell was full of praise for the knock.

“He’s had a terrific start to the season," he said.

"Over the last two months Samit has played four or five outstanding innings and he’s really timing the ball beautifully.

“I think today him and Ready put some real pressure on to Sussex. They both score quickly and hit plenty of fours between them today.

"We know we’ve got players down the order, at 5,6,7,8 who can hit boundaries and score quickly so it’s important that we set it up nicely for them and I thought we batted nicely for the first two sessions to enable them to score as quickly as they did after tea.”

Earlier in the day Phil Jaques scored 67, Michael Lumb 39 and James Taylor 29, with Luke Wright and Matthew Hobden each picking up two wickets.The Nottinghamshire team showed one change from the rain-interrupted fixture against Durham last week, with Alex Hales returning in place of Steven Mullaney.

Hales was in action first, opening up alongside Phil Jaques, who had a huge slice of fortune early on.The left-hander had run the first ball of the match down to the third man boundary but the bowler, Steve Magoffin, responded two balls later by finding the outside edge of Jaques’ bat only for Ben Brown to put down the offering at first slip.

Brown, normally a wicketkeeper, had been asked to deputise at first slip in place of the absent Michael Yardy, who had injured a bicep in a T20 Blast match on Friday.

Typically, Brown was in the thick of things at the start of a session where the ball flew to him twice more. Jaques’ positive early approach was almost his undoing; in the fifth over as an attempted pull, again off Magoffin, looped high up and over the slip cordon and down for another one bounce four.

By the eleventh over, Jaques had certainly found his timing, picking up three boundaries in 4 balls – again off his fellow-Australian – to bring the total up to 52.A much-needed breakthrough eventually materialised in the 16th over with Hales (16) departing to James Anyon.

The edge was taken by Brown, albeit very low down with Hales asking the fielder for confirmation of the catch.

The Jaques fifty (60 balls 9x4) followed next ball – the fourth time he had reached the landmark in Nottinghamshire colours – but he had another reprieve on 52. This time Anyon was the unlucky bowler, with Brown again the culprit.Jaques had a third ‘life’ on 61, this time Matt Prior seemed to allow the ball to burst through his fingers and go for four. The unlucky bowler, 21-year old debutant Matt Hobden, soon had his moment.At the start of his third over Jaques’ luck ran out, with Prior taking a fairly routine catch.

James Taylor, in against the county for whom he ‘guested’ last summer against the touring Australians, began confidently and was 5 not out at lunch, with Notts on 111-2.Hobden, a 21-year old local lad from Eastbourne, continued his spell during the early part of the afternoon session, nearly had a second when Taylor lifted a ball up towards third man.Last week, against Durham, Taylor fell to a catch in that position but on this occasion Chris Nash couldn’t hang on, despite a valiant dive for the ball.

Taylor and Michael Lumb steered Notts up to and beyond the 150 mark. A Jon Lewis delivery from the Cromwell Road End had to be aborted at the last second as a seagull swooped almost into the face of the retreating batsman, Lumb.Further stoppages disrupted play as Taylor had to call for a couple of tablets from the physio and then Anyon went down at the end of a delivery, appearing to suffer from cramp.In front of a large, sun-baked crowd, most of whom had paid just the discounted price of £1.75 to gain admission, Anyon had to hobble off, leaving Chris Nash to complete the over.

Nash was quickly out of the attack, with Luke Wright given a chance to impress from the Sea End and he immediately had Lumb (39) caught behind, chasing a wide one.Samit Patel, on the back of his imperious recent form, began with a couple of crisp boundaries but also gave a chance, to Brown again, when on 32.A slight slip from Prior allowed the ball to run from his grasp and collide with a helmet that had been placed on the ground behind the ‘keeper, gifting Notts 5 penalty runs.Both James Taylor (29) and Riki Wessels (11) fell when set.

Taylor spooned a leading edge to Anyon, who had just returned to the field, off Hobden – and Wessels checked a drive to cover, off Luke Wright’s slower ball.Chris Read chanced a single from his first ball and was also the recipient of a 5 as Hobden’s shy went for overthrows, with Patel (64 balls 6x4) reaching his fifty from the final ball before tea, with the county on 259-5.The sixth wicket partnership prospered to good effect in the final session of the day, as Patel and Read looked to repeat their exploits from Somerset, where they added 196 together.Notts had already secured three batting points by the time the second new ball was taken. As so often happens, its introduction produced a devastating increase in the run-rate.

Patel sped to his ton (137 balls 14x4) and acknowledged a standing ovation, having reached the landmark with a sumptuous clip over midwicket.The landmark enabled him to overtake Middlesex’s Chris Rogers as the leading run scorer in Division One – but it was clear that the right-hander wasn’t prepared to settle for a ‘baby’ hundred.Read (70 balls 7x4) brought up his own fifty, his third in four innings and the pair then ensured they remained together for the second day, with a risk-free twenty minutes until stumps.