It was one of those early-season days you sometimes get at the 1st Central County Ground, Hove in the Rothesay County Championship. Overnight rain and early morning drizzle had delayed the start, and deterred the casual visitor from returning on day three. The leaden skies necessitated the floodlights early on, as Surrey batters steadily accumulated in front of the dedicated Sussex fan, deckchairs and thermos flasks. There was a quiet optimism.
Ollie Pope is more Scrappy-Doo than Dom Sibley is Scooby, but he is exuberant and hungry for runs. He has a “let me at ’em” approach that, blended with real skill, makes him a pleasure to watch. His Test average of 34.02 has improved since being promoted to number three, where the Bazball approach seems to reward his natural rhythm and intent. He often makes bright starts, but sometimes that enthusiasm to keep things moving becomes a curse at the highest level, where the game has more ebbs and flows, and the best work you out quicker.
He brought up his hundred from 133 balls with a late cut; a touch shot, smart and stylish, perfectly in tune with his positive rhythm. Then, next ball, Jayden Seales got that extra bounce, the hook lacked control, and the wringing of the gloves suggested a guilt the umpire could not turn down as John Simpson took the catch behind the stumps. Classic Pope. The elegance and the excess. The control and the compulsion.
James Coles’ approach to bowling is similar to Michael Yardy’s measured style of slow left-arm spin — darting it in at the stumps without much turn or bite. However, where Yardy was effective, if not technically brilliant, it was his variation in pace that made the difference. Coles hasn’t quite added that yet.
Sibley similarly did the hard work. Surrey were quietly in control of the first session, Sussex revolving the bowlers they had still fit, still willing to run in despite the reward of a wicket fading. The day before, Sussex batters had been the reason behind their downfall and Sibley was on trend.
Earlier, Sibley had driven straight down the ground a couple of times, but just before lunch, he mistimed one and Coles, who had plugged away steadily, did the rest with a sharp caught and bowled. It was a good moment for Coles, if not quite one the game had been building towards.
That’s been the pattern so far. A game where batters have mostly got themselves out, rather than being truly earned by the bowlers.
Dan Lawrence is a batter England tried hard to find a place for, but wherever they put him, despite his willingness, it never quite paid off. This innings felt like a quiet statement. For perhaps the first time since promotion, Sussex’s bowlers began to toil against a team that was also trying to reassure itself and its supporters that their class was still there, and despite not showing it in the first two games, they were now showing resolve.
The Sussex bowlers put the ball in areas that forced Lawrence into playing his best shots. He drove well and belted it straight past Tom Clark and Coles, walloped straight back over their heads. Then the short stuff came, and he hooked and pulled with authority, Ollie Robinson not quite having the pace to barrage him with bouncers.
Ben Foakes, batting at the other end, is the opposite of a Pope or Lawrence. His languid elegance does not fit into the brash, all-guns-firing ‘Bazball’ era England’s Test team is in. He went about things quietly while Lawrence peppered the straight boundary. Foakes did have one small release, freeing his arms and dispatching the ever-despondent Coles over cow-corner.
As Lawrence’s hundred loomed, that awkward place in the nervous nineties became evident. It was not helped by Sussex taking the new ball and Robinson back into the attack, rapped Lawrence on the pads with the batter on 98. The next ball found the edge, but in keeping with Sussex’s day, it raced between second and third slip. Parity was approaching and Lawrence, now freed from the expectation of reaching the milestone, could concentrate on the task at hand.
The tea break came at the right time for Sussex, Surrey going along nicely on 378 for three. Lawrence and Foakes were building something, not just reputations, to show that international aspirations have not faded. The fourth wicket had garnered 151 runs in 27 overs. The only saving grace for Sussex was that on a pitch offering little for the bowlers, they were still in this. Surrey were still trailed by 57 runs and the first innings were not yet complete with four sessions of the match left.
The gloom was not just in the legs of the Sussex bowlers. Shortly after tea, with 36 overs still to bowl, the light was too poor for play to continue. The umpires checked their light meters with regularity and soon led the players off.
When the drizzle came later in the day with play not looking likely to resume, the umpires called a halt. A game that had fizzed early on has now gone flat and a draw is the only likely outcome. There are aspects in the game that will give both teams hope going forward. Sussex are not just making the numbers up after years of absence in the wilderness of Division Two and Surrey are starting to look at their most regal, if only with the bat.
Day four awaits and with it, the likelihood of nothing more than a handshake and a shrug.
