Sussex in control as batsman crumble

Sussex have dominated day one of the LVCC Division One match at Horsham, after bowling Surrey out for just 124, and finishing just 43 behind with 8 first innings wickets in hand.

Michael Yardy won the toss and stuck us in, on a cloudy but dry morning in Horsham. Gary Wilson and Tim Linley were the two to be left out of the 13 man squad, which meant the tail would be quite long with Batty at 7, Lewis at 8. Murray Goodwin was left out of the Sussex line up, and when the teams walked to the middle, Jason Roy was surprisingly (not for some!) joined by Mark Ramprakash, to add to the countless opening partnerships that Adams has tried over the last few seasons.

Batting looked difficult for the pair, with Ramps off the mark first ball with an inside edge passed his leg stump. Roy was subdued against some tight bowling from Anyon and Magoffin, and they combined to remove Roy, when he got frustrated and looked to launch the Australian down the ground, but could only find Anyon at mid on. Typical Roy yet again, getting out playing a needless shot at just the wrong time.

Ramps was the next man to when he got a good one from Magoffin and was caught behind for just 8. So, no sign of a return to form for Ramps, but the conditions were extremely tough and each batsman seemed to struggle. And after a brief break for rain, de Bruyn was caught at slip for 5 and we were 32-3 after the first hour’s play.

RHB came to the crease with his side needing him to score an innings which he has done many times this season, but he lasted just the one ball, as Anyon had him strangled down the leg side. And we had then lost 3 wickets for 0 runs, as Davies was caught superbly by Wells for 5, as we had slipped to 32-5.

Maynard counter-attacked the Sussex bowlers, until he was caught in the slips for 17, and at 52-6, 3 figures looked a long way off. Lewis and Batty managed to take us to lunch just (!) the 6 down on 78, but the damage had already been done, and anything they could add would take us towards some kind of respectability.   

The last 4 wickets managed to add a further 46 runs after the Lunch break, with Batty the first to fall for 32. Lewis then went for 14 before Kartik and Meaker took us over 100. Meaker went for 3, and Dernbach for 0, and an unbeaten 23 from Kartik lead us to our all out score of 124. It was without doubt difficult conditions to bat, but we made it look harder than it was, as 124 was well below par.

Jon Lewis made the perfect start to the innings, when he enticed Joyce into a drive and Davies did the rest. However, Nash was joined by centurion from the first game of the season Luke Wells and the pair looked comfortable at the crease. It began to look like a completely different game than this morning, as they scored freely around the small ground at Horsham. It highlighted how bad our batsman batted, as Sussex went to tea 80-1, and looking at a large first innings lead.

Straight after tea Murali Kartik claimed his first championship wicket for Surrey as he had Chris Nash caught by Jason Roy. However, at the end of that over, the rain came and didn’t stop and there was an early close with Sussex 81-2, trailing by just 43.

A very poor day for us then, in a game that we need to win. The batting has once again let us down, with senior batsman failing to step up to the plate and score big. Granted, it was difficult to bat on early on, but it certainly wasn’t a 124 all out pitch. Some of the batsman, namely Ramps, got good balls which they couldn’t do anything about, but RHB and especially Roy will be disappointed with the way they got out.

The bowlers have done wonders a lot of time this season when we have been firmly on the backfoot in the game, and who says that they won’t do it again? It will be difficult, but if they can somehow restrict the hosts to under 200, then it wouldn’t be too bad.