Post by longstop on May 31, 2019 15:30:30 GMT
We’re four games into the County Championship and have recorded one win, one defeat and two draws. The absence of Ollie Robinson through injury and Jofra Archer to the England team has meant that we have struggled in the last two games to take wickets to wrap up games. Whether Ollie Robinson makes the trip to Lord’s on Sunday will be dependent on how he came through a second eleven game this week.
In a league which has three promotion spots, it is hard to pick the likely occupants of those three places when we reach the end of September. Lancashire have been the most convincing with three wins out of four, but after that, there is not much to choose between Derbyshire in second place on 54 points and Sussex in sixth place on 49 points. In between those two sit Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Glamorgan.
Our next opponents are Middlesex, who are in seventh place on 43 points. After three games without a win, they beat Worcestershire by 126 runs this week to pull themselves up the table. Five wickets in Worcestershire’s first innings for Tom Helm and five wickets for Tim Murtagh in the second innings brought a much-needed win in a low scoring game.
Arguably, this is the toughest game Sussex have had this season in the County Championship so far, although Sussex generally performed better against the stronger sides in the Royal London One Day Cup. Middlesex have often been bowled out for totals in the 200s this season and batsmen have struggled except for Nick Gubbins and Dawid Malan. In the bowling department, Tim Murtagh has been in good form and Toby Roland-Jones is back in the side.
Recent games against Middlesex in the County Championship have been close. Last year, Sussex were beaten by 55 runs at Lord’s, but had a narrow win by 3 wickets at home. In the game at Lord’s, the bowlers dominated. Whilst Jofra Archer and Ollie Robinson took 5 and 4 wickets respectively in Middlesex’s second innings, a partnership of 87 by Eskinazi and Malan turned the game as Middlesex reached 232 –the other three innings in the game ranged between 169 and 175.
Most teams in Division Two could claim that a win this week will make a big difference to their season and Sussex are in exactly that position. Can Sussex go to Lord’s and come back with a stack of points? We will see.
In a league which has three promotion spots, it is hard to pick the likely occupants of those three places when we reach the end of September. Lancashire have been the most convincing with three wins out of four, but after that, there is not much to choose between Derbyshire in second place on 54 points and Sussex in sixth place on 49 points. In between those two sit Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Glamorgan.
Our next opponents are Middlesex, who are in seventh place on 43 points. After three games without a win, they beat Worcestershire by 126 runs this week to pull themselves up the table. Five wickets in Worcestershire’s first innings for Tom Helm and five wickets for Tim Murtagh in the second innings brought a much-needed win in a low scoring game.
Arguably, this is the toughest game Sussex have had this season in the County Championship so far, although Sussex generally performed better against the stronger sides in the Royal London One Day Cup. Middlesex have often been bowled out for totals in the 200s this season and batsmen have struggled except for Nick Gubbins and Dawid Malan. In the bowling department, Tim Murtagh has been in good form and Toby Roland-Jones is back in the side.
Recent games against Middlesex in the County Championship have been close. Last year, Sussex were beaten by 55 runs at Lord’s, but had a narrow win by 3 wickets at home. In the game at Lord’s, the bowlers dominated. Whilst Jofra Archer and Ollie Robinson took 5 and 4 wickets respectively in Middlesex’s second innings, a partnership of 87 by Eskinazi and Malan turned the game as Middlesex reached 232 –the other three innings in the game ranged between 169 and 175.
Most teams in Division Two could claim that a win this week will make a big difference to their season and Sussex are in exactly that position. Can Sussex go to Lord’s and come back with a stack of points? We will see.
