Sussex have the best of day one at Hove
Day one of the clash between Sussex and Surrey at the 1st Central County Ground, Hove was cut short. They tried to get back on later in the day, but a day full of promise ended in typical County Championship farce. Sussex, newcomers to Division One, continued their early-season form with a promising performance against the reigning champions, Surrey.
While not one of the fiercest rivalries in cricket, it is still one that the fans look to get one up on. When one casual passerby found out who the away team was, their reaction was, “Oh! Could be worse, it could be Kent.”
Not that it mattered to the Sussex opening pair of Daniel Hughes and Tom Haines, who set off at a blistering pace. Hughes had raced to his fifty inside the first hour and had he carried on until lunch, it was possible he would have helped himself to a century.
Surrey brought with them a stellar bowling attack of Dan Worrell, Jordan Clark, Gus Atkinson, and Matt Fisher. Given the experience, it would have been assumed that they would have played a first-class fixture at Hove before. None had and with the distinctive slope, it can cause problems for bowlers. Coming down the hill, you lose your rhythm, while running up the hill you strive to hit the crease. Only Fisher managed not to bowl a no-ball, with Dan Lawrence, bowling spin, guilty of three.
Fisher made the breakthrough, taking a return catch from Aussie overseas player Hughes. Sussex had better negotiated the first hour after they won the toss and asked Surrey to bowl first. They were the only team in the country to choose to bat that morning.
Two left-handers set the tone for the morning. Hughes was expansive and got stuck in, with Worrell and Clark leaking boundaries as they settled into new surroundings. Haines started off in expansive mood following his 141 against Somerset in the previous game. He was seeing the ball well and his timing was exquisite, punching one shot back up the hill in effortless fashion.
Haines had never played in Division One before this season and while he is highly rated, there is only so much you can tell about a player against Division Two bowling. Today, that faith in his abilities seemed justified. The opener was on 87 not out when the rain set in, with Sussex on top.
It might not have been the story as Lawrence, with the off-spin that he delivers through a mangle of arms and legs, had Tom Clark lbw for two with the score on 102. Tom Alsop has proven a steady player for Sussex, and with Haines, the pair put on an unbeaten 125 for the third wicket.
The players did come back out briefly for two overs and Atkinson bowled short and aggressively to Alsop, who stayed unbeaten on 39. It was enough for the umpires to call time, as with the floodlights trying their best to shine, they could do little to lift the gloom. The players were taken back off, Rory Burns, the Surrey captain, looking far from happy with the decision and a conversation with the umpires carried on as the covers were wheeled back on.
It was a day that showed Sussex are not in this division just to make up the numbers. There is real fight in their batting. The question now is whether their bowlers can prove they are capable of taking twenty wickets against a top side like Surrey.
Surrey are starting to sense that teams are gunning for them after dominating the four-day scene for so long. After drawing their opening games, they can ill afford another shortened day. They will come back tomorrow knowing they need to find a way back into this encounter and maybe against a local rival is just the time to do it.
