Ethan Bamber, one of Warwickshire’s four debutants along with Kai Smith, Taz Ali and Vishwa Fernando, made a great start on a greenish pitch, taking three wickets in the morning session including two in two balls.
Steaming in from the Cannon Hill Park End, the former Middlesex paceman trapped Tom Haines leg before wicket before doing the same to Daniel Hughes – and then had Tom Alsop taken at first slip first ball to leave the visitors 40-3.
James Coles saw off the hat-trick ball by hitting it straight down the ground for four. But, after a stand of 121 with Clark, he then mistimed an attempted pull off Ali, to hole out at backward square on the off side and give the teenage leg-spinner his maiden first-class wicket.
But, on what looked a very good batting surface, and with a shortish boundary on the north side and a lightning fast outfield, Sussex then took control.
From 232-4 at tea, Clark and Simpson added a further 129 in the evening session.
With the natural light fading and the Edgbaston floodlights on, Ed Barnard finally got some reward for his pace and persistence late on when, after troubling Clark with a short-pitched delivery that reared up at him, he did get his man, caught behind by another of the Bears’ new boys Smith.
But Simpson carried on plundering runs in the company of Jack Carson to reach the 16th century of his first-class career – and his sixth for Sussex.
