It seems an age since Bilal Shafayat conquered Australia under-19s almost single-handed to plant a flag for the corresponding England side and was christened Billy Sapphire by the Trent Bridge faithful. His career has stalled and crawled a few times since those youthful days but now, it seems, he is truly up and running.

A stylish hundred (celebrated by kissing the pitch) to follow a century against Durham at the end of last month have established him as the senior Nottinghamshire opening batsman and the new little-and-large partnership with Will Jefferson - at 5ft 7in to 6ft 10in there may never have been such a contrast - made a promising start.

Nottinghamshire enjoyed much the better of the second day with a first-wicket stand of 157 building on the work of Charlie Shreck before lunch in taking 4 for 14 as the five remaining Sussex wickets fell inside 11 overs. Shreck tends to take his wickets in clusters and prospered from a straight line on the abrasive surface.

The Sussex attack is a mixture of All Our Yesterdays in the seam department and Opportunity Knocks in the spin. The old firm of James Kirtley and Jason Lewry shared the new ball for the first time in the Championship in almost two years, yet the twirl of Ollie Rayner and the fresh-faced Will Beer boasted a combined age of 41.

Beer, on his debut, was not the only bowler who struggled to cope with the vastly different forward strides of Jefferson and Shafayat. Rayner, too, found himself under attack at times and one of two sixes slog-swept by Jefferson with the spin dealt a glancing blow to an elderly lady spectator.

The tea interval was extended by ten minutes to accommodate a presentation ceremony on the outfield in honour of Mushtaq Ahmed. Chris Adams, the Sussex captain, became as emotional as his former bowler as he handed over a drawing signed by the playing staff and praised Mushtaq for his humility off the pitch.

Peter Moores, the England coach, rushed from practice at the Brit Oval for the occasion and, like a Prime Minister returning to his constituency, spent the occasion meeting old friends, shaking hands and kissing babies. If he did see anything of Shafayat from the corner of his eye he can only have been impressed.

Scoreboard

Sussex: First Innings (overnight 292-5)
C D Hopkinson b Shreck 62
R S C Martin-Jenkins c Shafayat b Shreck 35
O P Rayner not out 10
W A T Beer lbw b Shreck 0
R J Kirtley b Shreck 0
J D Lewry c Read b Ferley 5
Extras (lb 8, w 2, nb 18) 28
Total (117.1 overs) 339

Fall of wickets: 1-82, 2-98, 3-124, 4-169, 5-265, 6-318, 7-329, 8-329, 9-331.

Bowling: Shreck 25-6-82-4; Pattinson 23-3-70-1; Ealham 26-9-76-3; Franks 13-3-35-0; Ferley 28.1-6-60-1; Prince 2-0-8-0.

Nottinghamshire: First Innings
W I Jefferson c Hodd b Rayner 80
B M Shafayat b Lewry 118
M A Wagh not out 31
A G Prince not out 20
Extras (b 8, lb 1, w 1) 10
Total (2 wkts, 72 overs) 259

M J Wood, *†C M W Read, P J Franks, M A Ealham, R S Ferley, D J Pattinson and C E Shreck to bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-157, 2-223.

Bowling: Lewry 16-3-57-1; Kirtley 13-2-38-0; Rayner 23-3-75-1; Martin-Jenkins 9-2-26-0; Beer 7-0-44-0; Nash 1-0-3-0; Yardy 3-1-7-0.

Umpires: B Dudleston and G Sharp.