Jack Haynes and Brett D’Oliveira were Worcestershire’s main contributors with the bat on day two of an evenly poised LV=Insurance County Championship encounter with Sussex at New Road.
Haynes top-scored with 47, and D’Oliveira made a fluent 38 as Worcestershire replied with 186-7 after bowling out Sussex for 264.
Worcestershire Club Captain Joe Leach picked up the final wicket to complete a five-wicket haul on a stop-start day interrupted by four stoppages for bad light.
Leach will also look to play an essential role with the bat when he resumes his innings on Wednesday morning on a wicket of variable bounce in which batting is not straightforward.
Sussex began the day on 254-9 with Jack Carson unbeaten on 81.
But he added only six more runs before he went for a drive down the ground and gave Leach his fifth wicket of the innings.
Leach finished with 5-68 from 22.4 overs.
When Worcestershire launched their reply, Daryl Mitchell collected the first boundary with a square drive off Fynn Hudson-Prentice, and Jake Libby turned Joe Sarro off his hips for four through mid-wicket.
Libby also cover drove Hudson-Prentice to the ropes but had slices of good fortune when two edges against the same bowler flew wide of second slip.
The opening pair put on 44 in 12 overs before Libby (28) was bowled off his pads after attempting to work Hudson-Prentice to leg.
Tom Fell began impressively with two boundaries in an over from Sarro.
Mitchell (16) nibbled at a ball from Dan Ibrahim and was caught behind, and Fell (11) turned Carson off his legs but was snapped up at short leg.
Worcestershire reached 82-3 at lunch, and after the resumption, both Haynes and D’Oliveira survived chances on 10 and 20, respectively.
The fourth-wicket pair played some enterprising strokes with Haynes cover-driving and on driving Hudson-Prentice for four.
The fluent partnership was worth 76 in only 17 overs, and Haynes had moved onto 47 when he was bowled by a delivery from Ibrahim, which skidded on and kept low.
There was then a break for bad light, and when the players returned, Worcestershire lost three wickets in three overs.
Ed Barnard (17) nicked through to second slip off Sarro, who also had D’Oliveira caught behind for an accomplished 38.
In between, Henry Crocombe found the edge of the bat of Ben Cox (0) with Carter showing a safe pair of hands.
The players returned for nine-ball balls after another stoppage before play was abandoned for the day.
