Worcestershire CCC face a substantial last day run-chase despite Club Captain Joe Leach and spinner Josh Baker claiming three wickets apiece on day three of the LV=Insurance County Championship encounter with Sussex at New Road.
Leach followed up his five-wicket haul in the first Sussex innings with a deadly three-wicket burst with the new ball to reduce them to 3-3.
Baker then demonstrated his growing influence on a game and finished the day with 3-31 from 16 overs.
But 57 from Sussex opener Ali Orr and an unbeaten 56 from Dan Ibrahim enabled Sussex to close on 199-6 – an overall lead of 250.
Leach ended the day with 3-44 and now has overall match figures of 39.4-9-112-8.
Worcestershire resumed on 186-7 in their first innings, and Baker collected the first boundary of the morning with a leg glance off Joe Sarro.
Leach cover drove Henry Crocombe for four to bring up the 200 and a batting bonus point in the 58th over.
But in the same over, Leach on 18 went for a straight drive and was lbw.
The innings ended with Baker (5) caught behind in Crocombe’s next over and Dillon Pennington (6) falling to a stinging return catch by Fynn Hudson-Prentice.
Sussex had a first-innings lead of 51, but Leach quickly made inroads into their batting line-up during a superb opening spell of 6-1-11-3.
He struck with successive deliveries in his first over.
Sussex captain Tom Haines (2) tried to work a delivery to leg but was caught off a leading edge by Tom Fell at first slip.
New batsman Harrison Ward (0) went lbw to his first delivery from Leach.
James Coles played and missed at the hat-trick delivery from Leach, but it was not long before the paceman picked up his third wicket.
Coles (1) was plumb lbw to leave Sussex on 3-3, and Leach had that juncture had figures of 2.2-1-1-3.
Orr and Jack Carson saw Sussex through to lunch at 37-3 without any further loss.
The fourth-wicket pair flourished after lunch, and Orr completed his second half-century of the game from 96 balls with seven fours and a six.
They added 84 before Baker broke the stand with an excellent return catch – one-handed away to his right – to dismiss Carter (20).
Baker then picked up the key wicket of Orr (57), who checked his shot and presented the spinner with a far more straightforward caught and bowled at 98-5.
But a second substantial partnership of the innings was put together by Dan Ibrahim and Hudson-Prentice.
Their stand was worth 87 in 28 overs before Hudson-Prentice (46) gave Baker the charge and was stumped by Ben Cox.
Ibrahim completed a 120 ball fifty shortly before bad light halted play for the day at 5.30pm.
