v Gloucestershire (H) Sun 1st August RLODC

What a brilliant game, who needs the Hundred? Thought we were absolutely out of it at 141 for 8, but just goes to show you.

By no means am I an expert or claim to be an authority, but as per my post in the Lancashire RLODC Match thread...

'...but good to see Carter given a chance. Although, he has only shown glimpses of what he can do so far and hasn't produced that notable innings, I just feel from what we have seen that this kid has got something about him'.

We have a plethora of youngsters coming through, each at different stages of development, some who will no doubt advance further than others, but this lad just looks the part. A natural successor to Brown who I am sure will score runs in all formats for Sussex in seasons to come.

That is not to take anything away from some of the others, Cole and Crocombe played their part today and Lenham showed a maturity well beyond his 17 years of age. Another great find and one for the future. Such a pity he couldn't get us over the line, but by no means his fault, yet again our overseas failed to turn up.

Realistically, given where we are in terms of putting together a structure and group of players the chances of progressing in this tournament were always very unlikely. As long as we remained competitive and there were some good individual performances then we can remain positive. We have had both.

Others may feel differently, but for me the key for the Management is to find some experience to blend with the youth that will help and not block their development going forward. Van Zyl and Wiese's races are run and we don't need Rashid Khan no matter how highly he is ranked while we have Beer and Lenham. Head I believe is contracted for another two seasons, hopefully he will come good there have been recent glimpses. Perhaps the answer is to look domestically to plug any gaps rather than go for the more expensive overseas options, whose availability is often limited and who in Sussex's case in recent season's have not performed to the level we had hoped.

Finally, well done Ben Brown. In a role unfamiliar to him produced an excellent innings when he can only naturally be feeling uncomfortable following recent events. I do hope he is still with Sussex next season, for what it is worth I feel he has been poorly treated. He certainly is the type of experience and example I refer to above that will no doubt prove invaluable to our young group.