County Championship: Jaydev Unadkat takes six wickets as Sussex beat Leicestershire in thriller

Jaydev Unadkat was playing in just his second match for Sussex, having taken only one wicket on his debut against Durham

India left-armer Jaydev Unadkat took six wickets on his home debut as Sussex revived their promotion challenge by wearing down Leicestershire's spirited resistance to claim only their second County Championship win of the season.

Unadkat defied the discomfort of a sore ankle to take an outstanding 6-94 from 32.4 overs, including the last four wickets in 31 balls, as they bowled out the Foxes for 483 at Hove to squeeze home by 15 runs.

Sussex visit Derbyshire next week before finishing the season at home to Gloucestershire but second-placed Worcestershire, who currently have a 18-point advantage over Sussex, are still favourites for the other promotion place. They play Durham at New Road next week before finishing at Headingley.

Leicestershire, for whom Colin Ackermann made 136, Umar Amin 94 and Tom Scriven 78, are not completely out of the running to join Durham in Division One next season but have a tough run-in, facing Yorkshire at home before finishing at the leaders.

After Ackermann and Amin put on 180 for the fourth wicket, Scriven and Ben Cox added 120 for the seventh to take Leicestershire to within 46 runs of victory when Unadkat produced an inspired spell down the slope.

He found some bounce and seam movement on a benign surface to defeat both established batters. Having made his career-best, Scriven was drawn half-forward and edged behind, while Cox was taken at head height at slip by Tom Alsop before Scott Currie nibbled at a full-length delivery to bag a second-ball duck.

That left Chris Wright, who joins Sussex next season, and last man Matt Salisbury needing 43 - and Salisbury batting with a runner because of a hamstring injury.

Wright had famously guided Leicestershire to a target of 389 against Yorkshire earlier in the season and when he slapped Fynn Hudson-Prentice for two sixes to help get the target down to 16, Sussex nerves were jangling again, only for Unadkat to produce a brilliant leg-stump yorker that was too good for Wright.

Leicestershire had the consolation of making the highest fourth-innings total in their history and there were plenty of periods during a fluctuating day when they looked favourites.

Ackermann and Amin added 67 runs in the first hour with few alarms but with the new ball an over away, off-spinner Jack Carson removed both batters in the space of four deliveries. Ackermann, who had hit 21 fours, was bowled making room to cut and Amin played for turn which was not there and was struck on the back pad six short of his hundred, having hit 17 boundaries.

Rehman Ahmed threatened to make the most of being dropped at short leg by Alsop with a single to his name, moving quickly to 29. Sussex had delayed taking the new ball for 10 overs but, in his third over with it in hand, Unadkat persuaded Ahmed to drive at a ball well outside off stump and Carter took a good catch diving to his right.

However, with the pitch showing little sign of deterioration, Scriven and Cox settled in, saw off the threat of the new ball and after lunch began to tick off the runs with few moments of danger.

Umpires Ben Debenham and Paul Baldwin had to speak to both Carson and captain Cheteshwar Pujara as Sussex's frustrations threatened to boil over before Unadkat changed the mood completely and the hosts could celebrate winning more than one game in a Championship season for the first time since 2019.

Sussex matchwinner Jaydev Unadkat:

"It was a team effort. Everyone put something in at some point in the game and we got over the line and that is all that matters.

"My ankle twisted in the last game against Durham and I wasn't sure if I'd even play in this game, so I wanted my spells to be short and sharp.

"For the last wicket I knew Chris Wright would go for his shots so it was a matter of being patient and not giving him anything in his slot and sticking to nice, hard lengths.

"When he realised I was doing that I then went nice and full with the yorker and that got us the victory."

Leicestershire skipper Lewis Hill:

"There is an awful lot to be proud of. The guys really battled. There were two superb partnerships between Colin Ackermann and Umar Amin and then Ben Cox and Tom Scriven before a little cameo from Chris Wright at the end.

"I'm really proud of the boys. It says a lot about our character. The belief was amazing. As the innings progressed we genuinely thought we could chase 500.

"It shows where we are as a group at the moment that we felt we could have chased that sort of score, but we'd have loved those extra 16 runs."

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network.