Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Edgbaston, Birmingham (day three)

Sussex: 156 & 207: Haines 67; Bamber 3-42

Warwickshire 161 & 206-9: Jani 62, Mousley 58; Hunt 5-65, Crocombe 3-71

Warwickshire (19 pts) beat Sussex (3 pts) by one wicket

Match scorecard

Chris Woakes steered Warwickshire over the line as they strengthened their County Championship title bid with a thrilling one-wicket victory over Sussex in a magnificent match at Edgbaston.

Trailing by five runs on first innings, Sussex were bowled out for 207 in their second. as Tom Haines compiled a skilful 67 against a seam attack which worked perfectly as a unit, with Ethan Bamber adding three wickets to his seasonal tally.

A target of 203 was tricky on a pitch on which only one batter passed 50 in the first three innings. Sure enough, in a wonderful finale, Warwickshire edged to 206-9.

Sean Hunt bowled superbly for 5-65 (9-95 in the match) but Vansh Jani (62) and Dan Mousley (58) scored crucial runs before Woakes (23 not out) saw his side to a nerve-jangling victory.

The Bears’ win sets up a mouth-watering clash with reigning champions Nottinghamshire at Edgbaston next week.

Meanwhile, Sussex, who have done so well to build a title challenge in light of all their off-field turbulence, remain in what is a fascinatingly tight race, but really need to beat Somerset at Hove.

When Sussex resumed on 84-3, James Coles’ lean spell continued as, having eked seven runs in 48 minutes, he left his leg-stump exposed and Woakes knocked it out.

Haines remained solid and reached the game’s first half-century (from 93 balls) but John Simpson edged Ollie Hannon-Dalby to wicketkeeper Alex Davies .

Ed Barnard then dislodged Haines, who edged to second slip, and had Danial Ibrahim – a substitute for the injured Fynn Hudson-Prentice – lbw.

Bamber chipped in after lunch as Henry Crocombe and Scott Carson perished to fatal outside-edges and when Woakes pinned Jaydev Unadkat lbw, Warwickshire’s target was 203 in a minimum of 153 overs.

Sussex needed to strike early and they did as Hunt hit Rob Yates’ leg stump, Zen Malik edged Unadkat behind and Crocombe ousted Will Young lbw.

Mousley and Jani tilted the game their side’s way with a stand of 107 in 24 overs before Hunt powered Sussex back into the match with three wickets in 11 balls.

Mousley skied a big drive to mid-off, Barnard edged behind and Jani was caught at second slip by Tom Clark – a brilliant take in moderate light. – and when Davies edged Crocombe to slip, the last three wickets had to find 47 in murky light against an attack with its tail up.

Woakes and Booth added 23 before the latter played on to Hunt to give the bowler a richly-deserved five-for.

In front of an enthralled crowd, Woakes and Bamber, playing and missing frequently, added another 23 before, with the scores level, the latter edged Crocombe to the wicketkeeper.

Amid excruciating tension Hannon-Dalby and Woakes took their time – 13 dot balls – before Woakes edged Unadkat for the winning four.

Report by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay.

Warwickshire all-rounder Chris Woakes:

“That chase was always going to be difficult and, at one stage we were in a position where we could have probably cruised home a little bit easier than we did, but that’s the game – pressure builds and situations change.

“We did bowl well throughout the game as a unit. I thought we could have bowled a little bit better at times, there were a lot of leg-byes where we just bowled a little bit too straight.

“But we’ve got a good unit, we keep coming and we rotate well and bowl in partnerships. That is a good sign going into the last five games but there are things we can do better.

“I was pleased with the way I bowled. I haven’t bowled with a red ball really since the start of May so to come in and bowl well was nice. It is always good to get wickets and, most importantly, big wickets. “

Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace:

“It was a fantastic game of cricket. I can’t fault our effort and commitment, though obviously when you get that close it is disappointing to lose the game.

“Overheads played a big part, certainly yesterday, in terms of dismissals. The sun came out today and, at times, batting was a bit easier.

“There were a couple of key periods that we can look back on. At the end of Warwickshire’s first innings we gave them 60 runs and that was costly because at one stage we were looking at having a 30-run lead.

“Then that period before tea today, that was a tough period in terms of our bowling but the fightback after tea was absolutely superb. “