Worcestershire were restricted to three wickets on the opening day of the Specsavers County Championship clash with Sussex at Hove as Luke Wells continued his impressive start to the season with a second successive century.
Skipper Joe Leach employed eight bowlers after putting the home side into a bat via an uncontested toss.
But Leach, Josh Tongue and Ed Barnard had to be content with one wicket apiece as Sussex closed on 339-3 from 96 overs with Wells unbeaten on 139 from 255 balls with 20 fours.
The left-hander followed up his career-best 258 against Durham at Hove a fortnight ago and shared in stands of 125 with Harry Finch (82) and 137 with Stiaan van Zyl (54).
Chris Nash, who has replaced Luke Wright as Sussex captain, made 22 but then went for a pull shot against Leach and picked out Nathan Lyon at square leg with 40 on the board.
Finch and Wells were cautious at first against some tidy bowling before picking up the pace during the afternoon session.
But Tongue broke through when he drew Finch forward and Daryl Mitchell held onto the edge at slip at 165-2 in the 47th over.
Wells was then joined by van Zyl and another partnership flourished. A two off Nathan Lyon took Wells to the 15th first class century of his career.
Worcestershire immediately took the second new ball at278-2 from 80 overs and Barnard broke through when van Zyl was bowled via an inside edge.
Luke Wright got off the mark with a six off Barnard and finished unbeaten on 27. Worcestershire will now be looking for early wickets tomorrow with a ball that is only 16 overs old.
