Worcestershire set Sussex a 272 target after a seven wicket haul from Miguel Cummins and then half centuries from Tom Fell and Ben Cox on day two of the Specsavers County Championship clash at Hove.
Cummins followed up his three wickets on day one with another four to finish with 7-84 from 19 overs as Sussex were dismissed for 229 in 46 overs.
An eighth wicket stand of 97 off 18 overs by Chris Jordan and Jofra Archer enabled Sussex to avoid the possibility of being asked to follow on after being 71-7 at one stage.
Then Fell and Cox featured in a sixth wicket century stand before Worcestershire were bowled out for 194. Then Joe Leach made an early breakthrough as Sussex ended the day on 13-1.
Cummins struck with the second ball of the day after Sussex resumed on 50-4 in reply to Worcestershire's 306 all out.
He bowled Phil Salt for a duck off an inside edge.
The County's leading wicket-taker, Joe Leach, accounted for Ben Brown (26) with Tom Kohler-Cadmore taking a smart catch at first slip.
Cummins then fired a yorker through David Wiese’s defences to uproot two stumps and bowl him for four.
Jordan, who has shared the new ball with Cummins for Barbados, and Archer counter-attacked to good effect.
But Cummins ended the stand when brought back for a second spell as he made one bounce at Archer (46) to square him up and have him held at second slip by Daryl Mitchell.
Sussex reached lunch on 197-8 and added only nine more before Danny Briggs (22) was caught down by legside by Ben Cox off Cummins at 206-9.
Steve Magoffin went on the offensive and hit Ed Barnard for three fours.
But the Worcestershire all-rounder had his revenge when Magoffin (13) fell to a fine catch by Tom Fell at deep square leg to leave Jordan unbeaten on 57.
Worcestershire suffered a double early setback in their second innings as skipper Daryl Mitchell (0) and Brett D'Oliveira (1) fell in successive overs from Magoffin.
Mitchell was caught off a leading edge at point and then D'Oliveira edged to second slip.
Fell and Joe Clarke added 68 for the second wicket with the latter completing 1,000 Championship runs for the season when he reached 19.
But on 19 the England Lions player was undone by a ball from Wiese which stopped on him and he was caught at cover.
Wiese struck again when George Rhodes (6) shouldered arms and was lbw and then Tom Kohler-Cadmore (0) fell in the same manner to Archer at 76-5.
Cox made his second telling contribution with the bat of the game in partnership with Fell.
The pair scored at four and a half runs an over in adding 113 in 24 overs before Fell (85) was caught behind off the returning Magoffin.
His fine 126 ball knock contained 12 fours.
The pattern of wickets falling in clusters during the game continued with Cox (56) lbw to Magoffin and in the next over Leach was bowled by Wiese for nought with the total 192-8.
Cummins (0) and Charlie Morris (0) were both bowled by Magoffin and Wiese respectively as the last five wickets went down for five runs.
Former New Road paceman Magoffin finished with 5-32 – his second five wicket haul of the game.
A see saw day ended on a high note for Worcestershire as Chris Nash went lbw to Leach for five to the final ball of the day with Sussex 13-1.
