Championship cricket returned to Grace Road yesterday for the first time since the start of June.

It proved a testing return, too, for Leicestershire as they had to work their socks off to get a foothold in their clash with Sussex, the second division pace-setters.

But they stuck to their guns and, after being dismissed for a modest 204, Matthew Hoggard snapped up three Sussex wickets to leave the visitors on 128-4 at stumps.

Conditions for much of the day assisted the seam bowlers and the Sussex attack tucked in after their skipper, Michael Yardy, called correctly before the start of play and put County in to bat. It was a good decision, too, with the Leicestershire batsmen facing movement off the pitch as well as through the air under heavy cloud cover.

West Indian Corey Collymore was the pick of the early Sussex bowling, constantly troubling the County batsmen in his opening spell of 11 overs.

He removed both Paul Nixon and Jacques du Toit as Leicestershire slipped to 58-3, although the position was partially recovered by James Taylor and Andrew McDonald.

The Australian, back in the Championship picture after a shoulder injury, was the dominant figure as he dispatched anything remotely loose.

The partnership was worth 52, and County were just beginning to assert themselves, when Taylor fell lbw to Yasir Arafat for 19.

From there, wickets fell at regular intervals and, although much of that was down to the performance of the Sussex bowlers, County were also guilty of some poor cricket, notably when Tom New was run out for just nine, having been slow to set off for a single when called through by McDonald.

County's hopes of reaching a total around 300 depended largely on McDonald building a major innings but, having made a very attractive 63, including 13 boundaries, he was trapped lbw by Monty Panesar in the slow left-armer's first over.

Wayne White, with 21, stayed around long enough to ensure Leicestershire did go beyond 200 and claim a bonus point but the County tail hardly wagged, mopped up by left-arm seamer Lewis Hatchett.

He chopped through the lower order with a four-wicket burst in just 11 balls to finish with the impressive figures of 5-47 as the Leicestershire innings hit the buffers in the 62nd over.

As the sky gradually cleared, conditions were not quite so favourable to the seamers in the evening session.

It did not take the home bowlers long to hit back, though, Hoggard trapping Yardy, his Sussex counterpart, lbw in the first over of the visitors' reply.

Taylor then took a sharp catch at short leg to give Hoggard a second victim, Ed Joyce, while Nathan Buck removed the prolific Murray Goodwin to leave Sussex in some trouble at 70-3.

Leicestershire's attempts to get back on an even keel were stalled by a stand of 57 between Chris Nash and Luke Wright, although neither looked in total control.

Nash went past the 50 mark with seven boundaries to his name, and not all out of the middle of the bat, but County's hard graft reaped reward in the day's penultimate over. Hoggard it was who struck, picking up his third wicket by flattening Wright's off-stump after the former County all-rounder had compiled a less-than-fluent 36.