Somerset v Sussex

Sussex had Somerset on the ropes and like Frazier with Ali, it's turned around
in the blink of an eye. The side must dig deep to get themselves out of this hole
but are they capable of doing it? Are the match-fixing allegations affecting
the players or is this surrender from such a position of strength, a negative
trait of the side? This is not the first time the team have shown such little
ruthlessness when their opposition are struggling. Or should we heap praise
on Somerset for their character and resolve?

It is time for one of the top tier batters to step up to the plate in the second
innings. ie. Nash who is now required to score his first 100 of the season. Joyce
cannot score the runs single-handedly. It is the responsibility of the other senior
batsmen to battle and regain the lost momentum.

PS: A personal view. If the Club are looking for a part-time spinner, I would
focus on RHB. He has the 'X' factor when it's rediscovered through all his recent
problems. I am not surprised he took the last two wickets after the other bowlers
were floundering. As for Beer, while his later overs were better, the faith shown
in him by Robbo was close to zero. 

Not the best start with Anyon opening the batting.
I know he has done it before but it is not a good sign.

Nash has the habit of scoring 30 or 40 and then getting out, don't get me wrong I really like the nasher, I hope he can score bigger this time.

Yes. RHB can take wickets when others can't.

edit: RIP Rik. Preferred him in 'The New Statesman'.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/06/09/rik-mayall-dead-funniest-moments-video_n_5473483.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

edit: One for flashblade.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKfbSHW9uGA

Why do they need to wait to be asked - are they alpha male first-class professional batsmen or are they timid and shrinking violets?

Piolet can also open the batting. First time I saw him about eight years ago playing for Sussex seconds at Beckenham, he was an opening bat.

At a difficult time for the club, players need to stand up and be strong, rather than to go hiding.

But perhaps we have switched to plan b in which Hamilton-Brown is transformed into a front-line bowler and Anyon is reinvented as a front-line batsman?

So let's just take stock of this, shall we? Sussex entered this match after getting away with a draw from their last game, having wrongly backed a theory. Their previous completed game they had been surprisingly and comprehensively defeated by Somerset - again, having backed a theory. For this game they were deprived of one charismatic stroke-playing batsman and one superb strike bowler (Test match calls), one containing medium-pacer, whose ability to exact swing in helpful conditions might have been useful and one steady early-order batsman and safe catcher (injury), one left-arm spinner and, according to Mark Robinson, top-6 batsman (complete absence of form and achievement. Oh yes, and the club bears the taint of two of its overseas signings allegedly being complicit in a betting scam. All in all a great way to go into a game.

I do agree that this is the sort of time when players of character knuckle down and show their worth, and all those sort of statements, bu I can also see, and understand, that there's a sort of train-crash attitude that is likely to be present too. The kind of feeling that when one sees the last jagged rails over the edge of the ravine as the engine gathers speed on the downward slope and you crane out of the windows, and probably there must be a feeling of Oh to hell with all!

That Joyce and Magoffin should stand apart from this is not merely praise for their characters; its an indicator of just how far ahead their talent outstrips all the honest strivers and the flair players in the side. We'd like good old Nash to come good in these moments of crisis, a true and loyal player, a fine batsman, but this kind of circumstance shows that he is where he is: in the top rungs of the second-rate. In a similar way Wright, the hardest trier on the field, an occasionally brilliant strokemaker, a sometime partnership-breaker just hasn't got that extra little bit that puts him into genuine international ranking.

For the rest of them, there are talents in the making, talents that flatter to deceive, talents that perhaps have grown stale through underuse, and talents that had a brief flowering and perhaps will do so no more. I don't subscribe to all of the doom and gloom that has come through in comments on this game. I think that Sussex have the nucleus of quite a good side, but we need to find players, both at local level and by inspired acquisition from outside quite urgently this year if we are to continue to punch our weight - and for goodness sake forget all of this nonsense about punching above our weight because we can't and won't until we get another Mushtaq Ahmed with a Murray Goodwin enforcer and a single-minded ruthless captain.

What we have seems to be an excellent strokeplayer and thinking batsamn in Joyce, who seems to be too quick to fall in with accepted theories coming from within the coaching management about the style of team and their approach on certain wickets. That thinking was once innovative and fresh but has now become predictable, sterile and academic. We need to liven it up.

I hope Wells who went off are feeling something when bowling moments after taking the overhead catch of Meschede, Machan who went off feeling his ankle rolling over on the boundary and Beer who went off after a finger from trying to save a return on his bowling are all free of injury. Machan and Beer returned to the field afterwards and Beer bowled. Anyon opened the batitng because of Wells' injury as he did once before when Nash was injured although Piolet having opened for the seconds may have been a more obvious choice. The wicket eased considerbaly this afternoon and 250-5 by Somerset is testament to this. However, our worrying lack of depth in batting and bowling and our overdependece on Joyce and Magoffin in this game ia a major concern. I would like to see Joyce as a captain think quicker on his feet and be more readily prepared to chop and change the bowling like Yardy used to rather than letting things go through the motion. There is no reason why we cannot win the game if the weather forecast for tomorrow improves, as it is pretty awful for tomorrow, however in order to do this we will need a few of the other nine players in a Sussex shirt to turn up and perform!