Nottinghamshire batsman Samit Patel made his first LV= County Championship hundred of the season to frustrate Division One leaders Sussex at the BrightonandHoveJobs.com County Ground.
The visitors were reduced to 112 for six shortly after lunch on the first day as two explosive spells by Chris Jordan brought the in-form seamer four wickets.
However, Patel dragged his side out of trouble with an impressive 157 before becoming Jordan's fifth victim in the penultimate over of the day. Nottinghamshire subsequently closed on 321 for eight.
On a green-tinged pitch offering consistent pace and carry, Sussex's decision to insert the visitors soon paid dividends.
Alex Hales was bowled by Jordan's third ball in the second over and the wicket-taker then took a neat catch at slip to remove Michael Lumb, who had been squared up by Steve Magoffin.
Ed Cowan and James Taylor staged a recovery of sorts, taking the score to 50, before Jordan returned to the attack to remove both batsmen prior to lunch.
Jordan had persisted with a tactic of testing Taylor against the short ball; the batsman's patience eventually snapped and he edged to wicketkeeper Ben Brown.
Cowan was leg-before in Jordan's next over, although the Australian clearly felt the ball might have gone on to pass over the stumps.
Notts skipper Chris Read gave Patel good support in a stand of 40 for the fifth wicket before he edged a beauty from Jordan that left him off the pitch.
Steven Mullaney then became Magoffin's second victim, caught behind playing away from his body to leave Notts in dire straits.
It might have got worse but Rory Hamilton-Brown dropped Franks on three at second slip. Franks gave another difficult chance on 28, which substitute fielder Joe Gatting put down at short-leg.
They proved expensive misses as Patel, playing with increasing authority against Sussex's seamers and Monty Panesar's left-arm spin, helped Franks add 92 in 24 overs either side of tea.
Franks was finally dismissed for 36 when James Anyon's yorker breached his defences, but by then Patel was well-set.
He lofted Panesar over long-on for six to move to 97 and struck his 11th four off the next ball to reach the 15th first-class hundred of his career.
By then the pitch had lost much of its early venom and, even when Jordan and Magoffin returned armed with a new ball, Notts were able to make good progress.
Patel's third 50 came off 41 balls as he and Ajmal Shahzad added 114 in 28 overs for the eighth wicket.
Having faced 199 balls, a tiring Patel finally perished when taking on a short ball from Jordan and top-edging to Ed Joyce, running back from second slip.
Jordan's fifth wicket of the innings made him the joint-leading wicket-taker in Division One with 30 victims, the same number as team-mate Magoffin and Middlesex's Tim Murtagh.