'Sussex CCC Season Review'
__________________________________BBC Radio cricket commentator Adrian Harms: “A very disappointing season for Sussex
with only a T20 QF being the highlight”
The season began with the usual hopes and expectancy but this year felt different. The signing of fast bowlers Ajmal Shahzad and
Tymal Mills was a signal from the Sussex hierarchy that the club meant business for 2015. An opportunity to grab the Championship
Trophy away from Yorkshire was not only a possibility but a primary goal.
No wonder supporters were full of excitement as the first away match against Hampshire commenced and those desires increased
after a 92 run win, where Ben Brown scored the first of his four summer centuries and Shahzad showed flair by taking 6 wickets for
117 runs. Immediately, Ajmal looked a fantastic signing.
A win by 61 runs against Worcestershire followed and Shahzad once more took 6 wickets, taking a fifer in the second innings and the
club were top of Division 1. Sussex had repeated the previous three years by coming out of the traps like well-trained greyhounds, yet,
the same pattern then replicated itself with two losses on the trot pronounced by a record-breaking tenth wicket partnership of 164 runs
between Hobden and Robinson against Durham.
The home loss to Middlesex particularly infuriated Members when the Sussex 1st innings bowling extras total reached 62, 24 more runs
than the highest Middlesex batsman score. So angry that they applauded the 50 extras and booed Hobden for his consistent no-balling.
The total for both innings hit 84. Middlesex won the game by 79 runs.
A diagnosed narrow spinal cord assigns Tymal Mills to a Championship P45
Fortunately, Members had something to cheer about at their next home game against Warwickshire - an improbable win where Jordan,
returning from England duty, scored a miraculous 56* against all the odds and Sussex won by one wicket. Serendipity had changed tack
and the club were back on track.
Meanwhile, the T20 Blast had got under way and captained by the ever popular Luke Wright, the team began with a topsy turvy start,
two wins and three losses, before the Arundel horror show. A 7,500 crowd at Narnia, buoyed by the presence of Kevin Pietersen, were
subjected to watching a clashing of heads between two Surrey fielders, followed by 3 ambulances on the outfield and fears that another
cricket death was in the offing after the mortality of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes. Adding to this pall was the recent third anniversary
of Surrey’s Tom Maynard and his demise. The game was abandoned. Fortunately, both fielders recovered.
Meantime, the Championship wheels had fallen off again after the Jordan heroics with losses against Notts and Hampshire. The team’s previous
seasons’ malaise where the batsmen could not score runs consistently coupled with a downbeat body language on the field was once more on
show as the Sussex injury curse had returned to bite the new seamer signings. Mills had been finally diagnosed with a narrow spinal cord making
him redundant from 4 day cricket and Shahzad was back in the hutch for the rest of the season with two separate pectoral muscle injuries. For the
supporter it was like watching repeats of ‘Eastenders’ where the off-field soap opera was more beguiling than the team’s on-field performance.
Yet, Luke Wright was carving out his own heroics as captain of the T20 side. His batting display against Gloucestershire was straight out of a ‘Boys
Own’ tale, single-handedly winning the match by scoring 111* from 56 balls. Sussex required 43 runs off the last two overs for another highly
improbable win but once more Glos seamer James Fuller became cannon fodder for the Sussex batsmen after Scott Styris had whacked 38 runs
off him in one over at Hove a few years earlier. Luke took full advantage of Fuller’s uncertainty smashing sixes and fours during the 19th over,
leaving just 9 to get in the 20th which was achieved with one ball to spare. One of the most extraordinary feats seen even for Luke’s high standards.
Wright celebrates his spectacular T20 batting performance and an improbable Sussex win against Gloucestershire
His Captain Marvel exploits triggered a winning streak which propelled Sussex to second place in their table and a home QF against
Northants.
But, the team continued to splutter in the Championship losing against Durham at home, followed by draws against Somerset
at Taunton after a fight-back in the second innings and a run-fest on a feather-bed at Edgbaston. Sussex were quickly slipping down
the table as the Will Beer controversy continued to rumble on after being sent to Oxfordshire while coach Robinson brought in several
spinners on loan who bowled no better.
Meanwhile, the much maligned ‘Royal London Cup’ fueled the Sussex doldrums further. I overheard one Member describe the club’s 50
over campaign as “an embarrassing disgrace.” Sussex ended up bottom of their league with no wins and just two points from abandoned
games. Perhaps, their most disappointing OD performance in many a year, described by one hierarchy member as, “The darkness of the
last six weeks.”
Early August saw the club lose a tight Championship match against Middlesex pushing them into a relegation scrap, followed a few days
later by a home defeat from Northants in the T20 QF where their batsman, David Willey, smacked the bowlers to all parts scoring 100
off 41 balls including 34 runs off a Michael Yardy over. One had tremendous sympathy for Yardy, his last T20 game for Sussex, after
all he had achieved for the club and England, and then to be treated with such humiliating disdain in front of a sell-out crowd at Hove.
Sport is a cruel bedfellow.
Sussex had their backs against the wall when Yorkshire came to Hove in late August. Dickie Bird’s men were romping the Championship
and a second trophy in two years was assured.
But Sussex finally rediscovered their mojo after it had seemingly gone AWOL for the previous three months. None more so than Yardy
who appeared determined to go out with a bang after announcing his retirement. His 124 rightly gained plaudits in the media and huge
applause from the home crowd. This was Yardy of old, for, through all his mental ups and down, here was proof that his cricketing spirit
was still intact, still fighting, still scrapping for the Sussex cause when most required. A stale-mate and 490 run parity led to 12 points and
relief from the side’s previous malaise.
Then a must win against Worcestershire at New Road.
Sussex duly delivered and looked a completely different side - a ghost of the previous darkness. A wonderful 226* from Wright, his highest
ever 1st class score, alongside another Brown century being the highlights. Maximum 24 points and the relegation scrap was truly on with
Sussex in the ascendancy.
The final home game was against fellow scrappers Somerset. When teams have their backs against the wall, class often rises to the fore and
Trescothick scored a magnificent 200. Not forgetting another Yardy century reminding one of the bus analogy. When he duly walked off the
pitch at the end of the match, one cannot remember such long and loud applause from a Hove crowd for a single player. The Somerset team
touchingly applauded too. This was cricket at its finest hour.
Michael Yardy hails his 100 against Yorkshire at Hove - his 22nd first class century
Sussex gained 11 points but thanks to the misplaced courage of Hampshire’s Captain James Vince who turned a rain-affected game with Yorkshire
into a declared do or die final day, fortunately, Hampshire lost and now lay 16 points behind Sussex and 18 with Somerset after Worcestershire
had already been relegated.
Just one game to go and it was the return of Yorkshire at Headingley. Already Championship Trophy winners with a slew of top England players
back in the fold, it was never going to be easy for Sussex. Unfortunately, it was the nail-biter supporters feared as Hampshire put up a tremendous
fight at Trent Bridge.
At tea on Day 3 the maths was straight-forward. If Hampshire achieved the 199 required to beat Notts and Sussex lost against Yorkshire, the Martlets
were relegated.
By day 4 lunch, the nightmare scenario transpired. Hampshire had breezed to victory by 8 wickets whilst Sussex had collapsed to 88-5 chasing 309 to
win. The top order once more exposing their fragility. Yorkshire smelt blood.
A fightback from Yardy and Brown accrued 81 runs after lunch and calmed the ship but the regular Sussex batting pattern of partnership players getting
out soon after each other occurred. For the supporter it was like having their eyes regularly poked with pins.
At 3.13 pm the inevitable happened. Sussex were relegated, all out for 208, as the team’s batting inconsistencies, on display throughout much of the season,
repeated.
