Wainwright (104 not out) and Adil Rashid (111) both hit career-bests as Yorkshire transformed 84-6 into 400-9 declared – and then reduced the champions to 25-3 on day two at Hove.

Yorkshire therefore gave themselves renewed hope of staying in LV County Championship Division One next season –depending on events at three different venues over the last two days of the season.

Irrespective of all the head-scratching calculations which may yet come into play between four teams who can still go down alongside Surrey, yesterday was a personal triumph for both Wainwright and Rashid.

It will have come as no surprise to Wainwright's father, Paul.

"My dad texted me on Wednesday night, saying 'you could get a ton tomorrow'," the 23-year-old left-hander revealed.

"I just humoured him and texted him back, saying 'Yeah, all right'."

That turned out to be very much the case, as Yorkshire made a mockery of the struggles of the previous day – taking a liking to much-improved overhead conditions.

"I joined Adil at lunch and we were praying for the clouds to get out of the way and get the sun out because it was a really good batting wicket and we made the most of it," said Wainwright.

"We stuck together and had a game plan, took it step by step and set ourselves little targets – getting to tea, getting 300, getting 350 – and then I got some help from Matthew Hoggard at the end."

Rashid put on 80 for the seventh wicket with Tim Bresnan and then Wainwright helped the England Lion to add 140 for the ninth – before number 11 Hoggard came up with a few handy blows as another 82 were plundered.

"It was a rare delight," said Wainwright.|"I didn't expect it – but to get my maiden first-class hundred is something I'll remember for a long time."

It got even better for Yorkshire with Hoggard getting the wickets of Michael Yardy and Carl Hopkinson, both lbw and Rashid having Ollie Rayner out the same way.

Yorkshire's much-improved fortunes at Hove yesterday were also the result of some tough talk from the previous evening, Wainwright confirmed.

He added: "A few words were said the night before. The boys got a bit of a kicking – which maybe we needed.

The champions had no answer and Wainwright said: "The Sussex boys weren't that together out there really.

"They weren't too happy with us – I don't think our demeanour, especially, helped that situation.

"We knew we were on top of them and had them under the pump a bit.