Cardiff MCCU 7-9 April

Thought Evans was lucky not to go first ball but has looked good after that. Not sure Wright would be in the team for the first championship game if he wasn't captain!!! Burgess looks like a more than capable back up for Brown, bit silly of him to give away his wicket like that though.

Nicely cleaned up by Archer, whose glass is clearly not half-empty, but brimming over

Why aren't we trying to win the match?

Totally agree, surely the positive psychological effect of winning is enough to go for it? 

I learnt today that 'allegedly' both Laurie Evans and Ajmal Shahzad recommended Burgess to Sussex after coming across 
Him in the past. The one that almost got away after trials with Lancashire and Leicestershire failed and led him to joining
the amateur ranks. 

I agree Burgess deserves a contract on his recent performances.

The Sussex press release summarising the game against the students (www.sussexcricket.co.uk/news-1/report-briggs-hits-century-as-sussex-draw-with-cardiff-mccu) again raises questions of action and intent. Why prolong the innings to allow Briggs to make a hundred in a game that is not firt-class? Who benefits from this when a win is prevented by the literal waste of time? Jolly nice for Briggs to make meaningless runs against 4th rate opposition but surely he and Rawlins could have been expected to have their turn bowling 10-15 overs to show how they could support the side in the serious matches to come.

And how is it that Briggs was "retired out" and Nash "retired hurt"? I thought that the ECB had ruled now that it was always to be recorded as a wicket down when an innings was surrendered. Not vitally important but one of those nagging things that make one feel that despite the host of good players and the wealth of coaches and back-up staff it hasn't quite gelled yet for this Sussex team.

The results of this first round of the 2nd division show that there are three very good bowling attacks out there, all of whom won by streets in Northampton, Notts and Kent. It is very good for the game that the bowlers should strike hard, of course, but it also confirms the experience of recent years that it isn't the bowling strength that makes a side 2nd rate, it is the batting. On that note Sussex's two innings compilation of 731 runs reveals alarming weaknesses. Apart from Evans in the first innings and Nash in the second, here are the aggregates of our top 6: Finch 57, Rawlins 21, Van Zyl 28, Wright 24. Getting to 20 or 30 and then getting out is a major weakness for any side unless the pitch is hopless and the first innings litany of 29, 32, 21, 25 shows that the side needs to work very hard at batting skills, Forget about the fitness nonsense, the golf days, the sponsors days and all the rest of the Twitter gaudiness. Mr Yardy needs to take charge now and see if work in the nets can transcend what has been achieved in all of these practice outings.