[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Four

Morning: Resuming on 39-1 on a sunny Thursday morning, Josh Tongue opened the day's action by blasting two stumps clean out of the ground to send nightwatchman Brad Currie packing for 7, and Ben Gibbon kept the ball rolling when he dismissed Ali Orr LBW for 38. But Toms Alsop and Clark saw out the remainder of the session comfortably to take lunch on 152-3, trailing by 66, and Worcestershire were already playing catch-up.

Afternoon: A soft dismissal after the break saw Clark tickle one down the leg-side off Dillon Pennington, a certain four but for the outstretched glove of Gareth Roderick behind the stumps - a man really finding his feet as a Pear in recent weeks - who pouched the ball inches from the ground to dismiss Clark for 36. New man Oli Carter rode his luck, with potential catches not going to hand, but Alsop completed his century with little bother, and tea was taken with the hosts 259-4 and leading by 41.

Evening: Everything hinged on the second new ball, taken early in the evening, and there was a flare of hope when Pennington bowled a perfect line and length to beat Carter's defence and clip the top of off-stump, seeing him off for 55, before Joe Leach nipped one back in to new man Fynn Hudson-Prentice that rapped the front pad and had him leg-before for a duck. But it was a false dawn, as Sussex saw out enough of the remaining overs to ensure a handshake with an hour left.

Match DRAWN

The Verdict: September strikes again. While the placidity of the pitch after the first morning played some part in this stalemate, the weather was again the ultimate culprit in frustrating what would more than likely have been a Worcestershire win without more than a hundred overs lost. A sixteen-point draw is a moral victory in many ways, but the chances of promotion are now slim to none, with wins against Notts and Middlesex required alongside slip-ups from Glamorgan and Derbyshire.