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Post by longstop on Apr 26, 2018 9:55:17 GMT
Our first CC home game of the season brings Gloucestershire to Hove. Whereas Sussex have started with two draws, Gloucestershire have started with a win and a loss. Their first game was a low scoring contest at Canterbury where 435 runs were scored at the expense of 35 wickets. Wickets were shared around evenly amongst Worrall, Higgins, Taylor and Miles with Ryan Higgins perhaps influencing the game most with 5-22 from 14 overs in Kent's second innings. In Gloucestershire's second game, they entertained Glamorgan. After scoring 236 all out, Glamorgan scored 526 for 9 declared to leave Gloucestershire with too much to do to recover despite an unbeaten century from James Bracey. Glamorgan ran out comfortable winners by 6 wickets.
At the start of play, Sussex and Gloucestershire are level on 21 points. Despite being unable to get a result in the first two games, Sussex may have surprised some supporters by having the highest number of batting points at this early stage. Centuries from David Wiese, Ben Brown and Luke Wells have meant that decent scores have been attained despite the number of low scoring games that have taken place around the country.
Our last five CC games with Gloucestershire have resulted in three wins and two draws. We only met Gloucestershire once last season in the CC; the game ended in a draw. Although Sussex were able to declare on 358 for 9, largely due to Luke Wright's hundred, a rain affected game meant that declarations were needed to force a result. At one stage Sussex looked to have a chance of winning, but Gloucestershire recovered from 117 for 6 to 212 for 6 to bat out a draw.
In the previous season, Ben Brown's hundred and a combined total of 435 all out was not enough to give Sussex a chance of a run chase at the end.
Sussex will be looking to start their home campaign with a win. At present, the table is very close with Warwickshire on top with 32 points while 6 other sides are packed behind with between 21 and 23 points. Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Durham languish with 10 points or less at the bottom. However, Glamorgan, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Durham have only played one game whereas the others have played two. A good chance to pick up a win? We will see.
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Post by coverpoint on Apr 26, 2018 17:09:49 GMT
A good chance to pick up a win? Not with rain forecast for Friday, Sunday and Monday! |
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Post by flashblade on Apr 26, 2018 17:22:10 GMT
A good chance to pick up a win? Not with rain forecast for Friday, Sunday and Monday! Depressing weather forecast. The Met Office has even issued a Yellow Warning for rain on Sunday and Monday!  |
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Post by joe on Apr 26, 2018 17:51:43 GMT
Briggs and Whittingham in, Beer out.
I’m afraid this looks like another draw because of the weather, very frustrating. Need to get as many bonus points as possible when there is play.
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Post by joe on Apr 28, 2018 12:24:43 GMT
92/0 overnight becomes 145 all out before lunch. 10 wickets for 53 runs and Glos take 3 bowling points.
Brainless batting from the majority, only Salt, Wright and Burgess got onto the front foot and looked attacking. Don’t think the bowling was as good as the scorecard shows to be honest.
We need to get bowling points today as tomorrow and Monday don’t look too promising weather wise.
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Post by joe on Apr 28, 2018 19:52:52 GMT
Good fight back by Wiese and Robinson with the ball. A couple of sitters dropped allowed the last 2 to put Glos into the lead.
51-2 at stumps with Wells going to the final ball of the day. Need to keep batting tomorrow till the rains come to ensure the draw and 8 points.
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Post by coverpoint on Apr 29, 2018 5:51:30 GMT
Good fight back by Wiese and Robinson with the ball. A couple of sitters dropped allowed the last 2 to put Glos into the lead. 51-2 at stumps with Wells going to the final ball of the day. Need to keep batting tomorrow till the rains come to ensure the draw and 8 points. Will we last long enough? How many do we need to set them a target? 220 is needed minimum which having scored only 145 in the first innings and Gloucestershire having scored 183 seems like a big ask. |
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Post by philh on Apr 29, 2018 8:44:19 GMT
It's funny how the brain can't work things out sometimes. As I walked into the ground from the Palmeira Avenue entrance just before lunch, I could swear that the scoreboard displayed 9 wickets. I was imagining (and hoping, perhaps) a score of 150 for 2. I consoled myself that it must be 0 wickets and that the eye test reminder should not be ignored whereupon I saw Sharma in the middle. For a microsecond, I thought nightwatchman, but at last the brain moved into action and I realised the score really was 120-odd for 9. I had missed 9 wickets in period of time that was similar to the period that Wells and Salt had dominated with 86 for 0 a day earlier.
The comeback was impressive, to be fair. Ollie Robinson bowled particularly well in his opening spell and David Wiese went through Gloucestershire's middle order. Ishant Sharma looked less dangerous although he beat the bat a few times in one of his later spells. Bizarrely, he looked quite comfortable with a bat in his hands in the brief period I saw Sussex batting before lunch.
Wickets fell regularly as news of Brighton's 0-0 draw at Burnley seemed to distract many of the faithful. At late flurry from Noema-Barnett gave Gloucestershire a lead which may or may not matter. As fours and sixes in the 10th wicket stand started to become frustrating, Danny Briggs was called on to bowl his first over of the season. One ball was enough to leave him top of Sussex's bowling averages for the season, although the real credit goes to Wiese and Robinson for their performances. Wiese's bowling seems to have improved this year as he also bowled well at Warwickshire.
On to Day 3 with Day 4 looking certain to be a washout. Whether 96 overs will be enough to conclude this game remains to be seen. Whether the light will be good enough to bowl 96 overs is also unclear not to mention the monsoon which is apparently heading to Hove.
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Post by Wicked Cricket on Apr 29, 2018 9:44:55 GMT
Wiese's improvement this season has been bordering on the miraculous as the critical mutterings of "Kolpak" and "bad signing" have faded into obscurity. Some cricketers play better under certain coaches and "Gillespie and Wiese" sound more like a high class music combo.
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Post by deepfineleg on Apr 29, 2018 11:18:38 GMT
Sharma seemed to have trouble bowling down the hill (3 ovs for 32 in first spell), but bowled 11 for 21 from the sea end.
If you can access the live stream at the ground the delay is such that there's time to watch any incident again. Maybe they could switch the stream to the big screen when a wicket falls.
At lunch yesterday Gillespie was holding a session for Garton and Sakande and, judging from his comments, was appreciating Garton's bowling, so maybe we'll see him soon.
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Post by liquidskin on Apr 29, 2018 18:44:50 GMT
Have we got any batsmen he can appreciate? With Jordan, Archer, Garton and a quality overseas bat in the side we might just be able to outplay Glos. Pretty grim days right now. Guess this one is another draw.
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Post by philh on Apr 29, 2018 18:56:28 GMT
If asked, I would say that I don’t like low scoring games, but when I’m watching them I have to confess that I do. In a low scoring game, it’s easy to pick out mistakes players make, especially for the batsmen. Today, Finch acquitted himself well and deserved his fifty, falling short by 2 runs. Van Zyl batted sensibly and bowled a spell that may have changed the game, although as we all know the weather looks to be the only winner.
The consensus amongst Sussex supporters seemed to be that we needed to set a minimum target of 150. The consensus amongst the small sample of Gloucestershire supporters was that 150 was plenty. The day swung back and forth. We looked as though we might struggle to set more than 100 at one stage but Wiese clouted some precious runs and it looked even Stevens to me.
Gloucestershire started well and aside from Dent’s dismissal went with relative comfort to 69 with no further losses. Then, van Zyl performed some magic and Robinson took his second wicket to leave Gloucestershire reeling. But they steadied. It got darker. We had to stop the quicks bowling due to the light as both sides sought victory.
Thrilling stuff until the scoreboard glowed like a night time T20 game and the umpires declared that enough was enough.
I don’t always trust the weather forecast but there seems to be a certainty that this game is sadly all over.
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Post by Wicked Cricket on Apr 30, 2018 9:18:27 GMT
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Post by joe on Apr 30, 2018 19:22:20 GMT
So we go 6th on 29 points but only 3 points adrift from Warwickshire who are top on 32 points although the top 3 have all played one game less.
I think we are unlucky to have played 3 games in April and also to have to play Warwickshire and Middlesex twice.
Some positives to take from the game:
1. We didn’t lose
2. Salt and Finch found some form
3. Wiese continues to perform
4. van Zyl bowled well in favourable conditions for his medium pacers
5. Wells is back bowling well.
For the next game I don’t think we can play a spinner as our 4th bowler if he isn’t going to bowl much although Briggs didn’t do a lot wrong when he did bowl. I’d play another seamer and use Wells and van Zyl as the pace off options when required. I’d also play Wiese above Robinson and Burgess above Brown.
My team against Middlesex would be
Wells
Salt
van Zyl
Finch
Wright
Burgess
Brown
Wiese
Robinson
Sharma
Garton
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