Other counties 2015 - a tangled thread of doom and triumph

The match at Lord's unofficialsussexccc.freeforums.net/post/9063/thread could contain the key to Sussex's fortunes in the Championship this year and it is fascinatingly poised. If Durham can make the 235 runs they need to win, with 8 wickets standing, they will leapfrog Sussex to take the lead with 65 points to our 50 from the same number of games. Defeat to Middlesex would put Middlesex top with 53, then Sussex 50, then Durham 49, followed by Yorkshire on 42 - all from 3 games.

Middlesex are our next home opponents and we would hope to beat them at Hove, though the resurgence of Harris as a penetrative fastish bowler should make the contest a lot keener. Durham will be at home to Notts during the same period, which should also be a very keenly fought match, but Yorkshire are at home to Hampshire, which looks like a 20+ point haul to Yorkshire. A decisive lead for any of the top four after 4 games is unlikely for any time unless it is Durham, but if they lose, there is a prospect that by May 13th there will be 4 teams ranging from 60 to 70 points, which would really set up the contest for the rest of the summer.

hhs,

This impending match against Middlesex is the BIG one. This will tell us just how close Sussex are to being worthy
Championship Trophy contenders.

Critics may suggest that our first two wins against Hampshire and Worcestershire were against the two weakest 
sides of Division 1 and the game against Durham one of the toughest given the Riverside fortress. If Sussex can
beat Middlesex at Hove convincingly, this will show supporters that our side have an opportunity to go all the way.

But, it ain't going to be easy. Middlesex have had an excellent start AND against stiffer opposition. Yet, so long as the 
weather behaves it should be a fascinating 4 days where 'all' the Sussex players must display top form.

Harris 9-34. Amazinfg revival in his career. I remember watching him at Hove last season with HH and we both agreed that he'd totally lost whatever it was that he once had. Middx came to the same conclusion and dropped him and I think at one point last season he was sent back to Glamorgan in Div Two on loan.

I listened to a bit of the game on radio commentary this morning and they were attributing it to reverting to his original action, after the coaches had messed about with it. Now where have we heard that before?

Great things may be happening at Canterbury tomorrow , but only if the gales and showers abate. Leicestershire, with 2 wickets standing lead Kent by 307 runs and are on the verge of their first victory over Kent since 2003. If they do manage the win it will be well deserved. Leicestershire have suffered more than most from the effects of two-division syndrome, from the drain of their home-grown players to more prosperous counties as soon as they reach maturity and start to fulfil their promise, and they have slumped into an abyss as bad as that from which Lock, and then Illingworth, rescued them in the late 60s.

I am sorry that Kent's decline has come close to touching those same depths: I was born in Kent and watched my first matches there, and the side of Underwood and Knott, Asif and Luckhurst, Cowdrey at the helm, is a happy memory. They were never well-governed even in those days, a last survivor of the old patronising school of Committee appointments and captains who knew which side their bread was buttered, but they played good cricket for the most part. More than most sides they have suffered by the decision to retrench onto one key site. Canterbury is beautiful, full of history, and miles away from the popular support of the county in any volume that matters. A wholesale move to Beckenham would place them where the crowds are, but they would have difficulty connecting with a loyal membership and still retaining a county-wide integrity.

I have been voicing the opinion for some time that Somerset's days in Division one are numbered. They have only just avoided relegation in recent seasons but it looks like their time is due. They are a strangely imbalanced side consisting of senior pros approaching the end of their careers and young promising players still working out their games. The loss of Compton,Kieswetter and Petersen has decimated their batting. To lose by an innings to Worcester surely takes some doing so I think there decline is looking terminal. Great pity for Mat Maynard who deserves some good luck for a change.

Good start for Leicestershire taking early wickets but then Kent played very doggedly, seemingly put the idea of defeat well behind them - and then opened out in a burst of hitting far too late for their under-armed batting. In the end it was a pallid draw that did nothing for the status of either team, though I rather think it will boost Leicestershire's hopes more than those of Kent. It must also be nice for Charlie Shreck to take a few wickets against one of his former employers. And at least Bell-Drummond's 100 will bring some cheer to the borderman.