Cottey shows value to Sussex

County Championship D1, Leicester, day two: Leicestershire 320; Sussex 340-5 (at close)

Full scorecard

Welshman Tony Cottey underlined his value to second-placed Sussex by continuing a rich vein of form with his 30th first-class century.

The 37-year-old followed scores of 188, 107 and 98 in his last three innings by batting for over six hours to make 137 not out and steer his side into a first innings lead.

Murray Goodwin and Richard Montgomerie laid a soild foundation with an opening stand of 58, which came to an end when Goodwin was lbw to Phil DeFreitas for 34.

The Leicestershire skipper looked a class above the rest of his attack as he took 3-34 from 20 overs after holding their batting together with 103 on the opening day.

Montgomerie was bowled by DeFreitas for 52 after adding 103 with Cottey and Sussex then slumped from 161-2 to 215-5.

But Matt Prior showed his growing maturity with the bat as he struck 10 fours to reach an unbeaten 68 at the close.

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Leicestershire: T R Ward, J K Maunders, D L Maddy, B J Hodge, D I Stevens, P A Nixon (Wkt), J N Snape, P A J DeFreitas (Capt), D D Masters, C E Dagnall, R M Amin.

Sussex: R R Montgomerie, M W Goodwin, P A Cottey, C J Adams (Capt), R S C Martin-Jenkins, T R Ambrose (Wkt), M J Prior, J D Lewry, K J Innes, Mushtaq Ahmed, R J Kirtley.