2-day Friendly v Surrey

No news yet on the Sussex squad but I imagine a similar mixture of established players and opportunities for the likes of Finch, Jackson and perhaps Hudson-Prentice, if he is over his injury. Forecast is good, if about 5 degrees cooler at Hove than just over the Downs in Mid-Sussex.

A glorious sunny day at Hove with around 250 people in attendance and it felt good, really good to be back at the county ground
on Day 1 of the friendly match against Surrey. A nod or a chat to colleagues - a chance to brush away the social winter cobwebs.
Although disaster struck as there was no Harveys in sight!

Meanwhile, The new verdant outfield glistened with a sheen of 'look at me' and with barely a seagull in sight to dampen the cat-walk.
It is hard to believe that 7 months have passed since the final home championship match against Lancashire and that win by 7
wickets to help propel Sussex towards their closing 3rd position.

hhs is spot on with Tymal Mills. Frightening and fast, there are shades of John Snow in his fiery delivery. Tymal just needs to find his
gunsights - too wayward with far too much down the legside, but wow, what promise lies ahead with Robinson's guile and experience
to draw from.

Surrey limped to 151-7 after their allotted 60 overs. Certainly, this wasn't the World Cup, more like a tortoise tea party in comparison,
but who cared. The sound of ball on willow being the all important purpose. And while Mills terrified the Surrey youngsters, Magoffin was
straight back to his metronome efficiency with Shahzad offering excellent support.

After tea, Nash and Wells raced to 50 in no time as Sussex headed towards their 30 overs before close. Tomorrow Sussex will begin the
day with an additional 30 overs before retiring and the match begins again.

All is fair and well in England's green & pleasant Land.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S-AOFgb59A

edit: CLOSE OF PLAY at Hove and Sussex end the day on 137 for 1, with Luke Wells unbeaten on 65 and Nash scoring 56 before
being caught at mid-on by Davies off Ansari. Play resumes at 11am tomorrow.

I hope so, but I can also confirm that the out-of-bounds areas that were the subject of a recent message include the whole of the Sharks stand, the top tier of the pavilion, and the north-east corner grass banking.

A fine picture and I can confirm that he bowled up to the standard of that action. Overall the Sussex bowling was much too strong and in command of the Surrey batting. Burns stuck around stodgily for more than 2 hours without impressing, Ansari and Solanki were no more than adequate, and Davies and Roy underwhelmed.

The bowling does look very promising indeed. Magoffin as usual bowled with the ball on the end of a long piece of elastic, controlling precisely where he wanted to lead the batsman, and Shahzad only bowled one poor ball, a longhop, in the spell that I saw. Whatever his reputation in the recent past he seems determined to show why he became an England player, briefly, at Yorkshire. Hobden bowled well too, though his pace that seemed to be something special last year looked a bit more manageable, particularly compared with Mills. Even Zaidi got a wicket, the usual clueless cowshot.

Hope to go again this afternoon though it had better warm up a bit. Staggering that a few miles inland it was a basking 17-18 degrees and yet pullovers required throughout the afternoon. A few brave souls wore shorts and short-sleeved shirts, determined to wring all heat from the sun down to bathe their goosepimpled, purpling flesh: not a pretty sight.

That's a great relief, Jon - thanks for listening to your members' requests.