Notinghamshire v Sussex County Championship at Trent Bridge April 25-28

Neil Whitaker reports

Day 1

JOSH Tongue took his second Rothesay Championship five wicket haul in his second appearance for Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge as Sussex were dismissed for 169 before tea.

Nottinghamshire won the toss and put Sussex into bat by 11.58 the visitors had lost four wickets for 28 thanks to Brett Hutton who had taken three of them.

On the stroke of tea Nottinghamshire captain Haseeb Hameed  brought Tongue back into the attack and he blasted the last three wickets away. Jack Carson and Jayden Seales were dismissed with consecutive balls leaving Tongue on hat trick in Sussex second innings.  Tongue’s five for 44 beats the five for 66 he took against Durham in Nottinghamshire's opening match.

By the close Nottinghamshire were five behind with seven wickets in hand.  Captain Haseeb Hameed was unbeaten on 67, passing 50 for the third time this season.

Tongue said: “After getting them four down at lunch, we knew if we just stuck in there and got those last six wickets in the afternoon we would be in a good position, and  to finish the day with  Haseeb Hameed  and Jack Haynes there it could not have been a much better day really. Haseeb Hameed is incredible to watch, the way he goes about his business.

The way  Hutton bowled, putting them under the pump as he did with Warwickshire at Edgbaston last week, was amazing.

I  feel like I’m getting better each time I’m bowling. I had a very good winter going into this season. Getting the overs into me, getting that robustness in the body to bowl long spells, is what I’m aiming for. 

The pace is there and it is just now about getting that consistency into my lines and lengths and it feels like the more times I’m bowling, the more I’m getting that.”

For Sussex Oli Carter was Sussex top scorer with 46 and was the only Sussex batter not to fall to Tongue or Hutton he fell to Farman Ahmed the leg spinner. He got one to rise and took the shoulder of his bat and stumper Kyle Verreynne took the catch and just for  good measure he stumped  Carter.

Carter said: “I think we’ve got to leave behind what happened today and focus on getting the next seven wickets and hopefully get us into a good position in the game.

We are a bit disappointed. We didn’t think that was the way the day was going to go and we’ve got to look now towards getting the last seven wickets and then hopefully build up a lead in the second innings.

They have a very strong attack and they are up there at the top of the Division for a reason. Coming up from Division Two, the cricket is a bit more relentless, very competitive and you don’t get a break, but hopefully that stands me in good stead and makes me play better.

I tried to be as positive as I could while I was batting, getting into the right positions, and hopefully build on that in the second innings.”

Day 2

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE are on the verge of their second Rothesay championship victory of the season with two days left Sussex lead by 64 runs  with three second innings wickets standing.

Assistant Head Coach Paul Franks said: “ We’re not taking anything for granted, they’ve got two world class bowlers who can do a lot of damage. The game has ebbed and flowed but I think that at the moment we are ahead of the game.  The match has moved quickly because it’s a fantastic cricket pitch.  One minute it  feels like the ball is dominating then the batters bounce back.  The first hour tomorrow is going to be crucial.”

Trailing by 131 Tom  Haines andDan  Hughes made a confident start most of their runs came in boundaries but on 34 Haines was given a life when he was dropped by Joe Clarke off Fergus O’Neill. In terms of the match situation it was a dolly.  Given that life he reached his 50 from 66 balls  when cut Josh Tongue for a six over point.

In the 23rd over it started to unravel for Sussex as they went from 89 without loss to 107 for four in 11 overs. It was leg spinner Farhan Ahmed who got the breakthrough in the 23rd over when Hughes went back to cut him and top edged it to stumper Kyle Verreyne.  Tom Clark tried to sweep Farhan Ahmed in his next over but missed the ball and was leg before.

Tom Alsop never looked comfortable during his short innings  and was finally put out of his misery when he played down the wrong line to O’Neill to give the Aussie his first wicket of the match.

Haines’ 111 balls innings ended when he drove O’Neill through the off side, the Aussie stuck out his right hand and amazingly the ball stuck.

O’Neill got his third wicket when Oli Carter edged him and   Ben Duckett at second slip took a great low catch moving to his left in front of Clarke at first slip. Franks said: “Those two catches were world class.”

John Simpson and James Coles added 25 in nine overs, getting the runs to make Nottinghamshire bat again.  Coles batted for 82 minutes before he was late to a straight ball and was leg before for 16.  In effect Sussex were 19 for six.  

Flynn Hudson-Prentice went down the pitch to Liam Patterson-White, got a bottom edge and the ball rolled back on to the stumps.

Franks added: “We were a little bit sloppy at the start of their innings and we weren’t happy about that but we bounced back through Farhan Ahmed and then we kept chipping away.”

The first hour of the second day almost mirrored the first hour of the first day except more wickets fell and more runs were scored.  Yesterday in the first hour Sussex lost four wickets for 28 in 14 overs today Nottinghamshire five wickets for 36 in 12 overs but then Nottinghamshire dominated the first session with a ninth wicket partnership of 71 between Patterson-White and Josh Tongue in 13 overs.

Nottinghamshire lost their first wicket of the day when Jack Haynes, who added one to his overnight score,feathered Jayden Seales to  Simpson.  Haseeb Hameed turned Seales off his legs for a couple to take Nottinghamshire into the lead

Seales got his second wicket of the day in his next over when Verreynne pushed at him and Coles at third slip took a low catch.

Ollie Robinson square Haseeb Hameed up and took his edge and Simpson took a good catch low to his right. Haseeb Hameed hit 12 fours in his 85 which came from 122 balls. In his next over he got one to rise at O’Neill who edged it to Clark at second slip. Clark took his second catch of the morning when Brett  Hutton pushed at Seales  edged it and Clark took a great low catch to his left.

Patterson-White hit 42 from 59 balls including one six when he hooked Seales over square leg.  The partnership was broken at 12.53 so we had the prospect of an extra eight overs, we got 5.3 overs before Rehan Ahmed was bowled through the gate by Jack Carson and Tongue was unbeaten on 39.

Franks said: “Those runs were valuable, got us another batting point and those extra 20 runs could be vital.”

For Sussex Robinson took four for 94 and Seales finished with four for 107.  Robinson said: 

“The way we bowled this morning got us back into the game a little bit. The partnership they put together for the ninth wicket was not ideal but to get them out for 300 after they were 167 for three was a good effort and if we can add another 80 to 100 tomorrow it will make for a tricky chase. If we can get 150 or so ahead I genuinely think we are in with a sniff.

You have to bat positively on this pitch because there can always be a ball with your name on it but if you bowl straight and bowl well it is very hard to score. They have probably bowled a bit better than us if I’m honest, which is why the game is where it is. 

I’ve had a winter which has allowed me to get a bit stronger and fitter which has allowed me to bowl longer spells.

Obviously, I’d love to play international cricket again and I hope that by bowling these longer spells I can prove I can still do that. I’d just like to put my name back in the hat, really.”

Day 3

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE beat Sussex by nine wickets with over a day and a session to spare in this top of the table clash but at least Sussex took the match nearly to 3.30 when many thought it would be over by noon.

Captain Haseem Hameed said: “We knew it was a big game for us, a top-of-table clash, so it’s really pleasing to come out with a win. The way we bowled in that first innings was outstanding. To bowl a team out for 170 is always a good effort regardless of how the pitch is playing. And then the way the lower order fought to get us to 300 was massive as well after we had lost a few wickets yesterday morning. For Liam Patterson-White to come in for his first game back was outstanding, with both bat and ball throughout the game. 

We had to work hard for those last wickets even today, when the ball wasn’t doing as much with the sun out. But the way the boys stuck at it was amazing, we didn’t get anywhere really until that new ball was taken and we got our rewards later on.

 We spoke before the season about needing to start well, and to come out and execute our plans the way we wanted to has been great.  But we are very aware that it is just the start, there are a lot of games still to play and we are keen to keep doing the right things.”

Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace said: “Nottinghamshire have played very well but we are disappointed with the way we have lost the game. The first morning the ball did a lot before lunch and we lost wickets but in the afternoon we had a chance to play better and score some runs and we didn’t take advantage of that. Probably it was a 250-260 wicket, so straight away you are looking at a 70-80 run gap.  And then, apart from Ollie Robinson, we didn’t bowl very well with the new ball and they probably scored 50 or 60 runs more than they should have done.

We then bowled so well on the Saturday morning and caught brilliantly to  get ourselves back into the game. But batting in the second innings, we went from 89 for none to 110 for four and we went a bit timid, looking to survive rather than score runs and we got stuck in a bit of a rut.

“Jack Carson and John Simpson batted with a lot of courage this morning and gave ourselves something to bowl at, but again unfortunately we again didn’t bowl well with the new ball and Ben Duckett has come in and taken the game away from us.”

Needing 148 to win, Nottinghamshire captain Haseeb Hameed  set off  as if he wanted an early finish.  He smashed off spinner Carson, who was brought into the attack after five overs, to the mid-wicket boundary to bring up the Nottinghamshire 50  in the 10th over.

Ben Slater was very much the silent part until Jayden Seales was brought back into the attack.  Slater threw everything at Seales first ball and drilled him over the covers for a six.  He pulled the next ball to the square leg boundary.  But he came a cropper when he repeated the shot in Seales’ next over, he found Oli  Carter a few yards in from the boundary and held the catch above his head.

Duckett was another one who was in a hurry to see the FA Cup semi final he smashed Carson for a six over the  square leg boundary,  two balls later he hit Carson for a one bounce four over mid-wicket.  In Carson’s next over Duckett slog/swept him for another six.  With the match nearly won Duckett reached his 50 with another six off Carson.  Haseeb Hameed was unbeaten on 62, his second 50 of the match when Nottinghamshire reached their target.

Sussex captain Simpson top scored with 74, his third Rothesay Championship 50 of the season, and was the last man out when he  had a slog at Farman Ahmed but found Josh Tongue on the short long-on boundary. Simpson’s  74 came from 149 balls with six fours and a six.

It took Nottinghamshire 96 minutes to break  the overnight partnership of Simpson and  Carson who added 87 to their partnership.  Carson hit his best score of the season so far this season.   After taking the new ball when it was due, it took  Nottinghamshire  nearly  nine overs to take a wicket.  Seven  short of a 50,  Carson  chipped Brett  Hutton to substitute Freddie McCann at mid-wicket.  A smart piece of captaincy from Haseeb Hameed who had only just moved McCann from the slips to mid-wicket.

The only chance either of them gave was when  Carson  on  36, when  pulled Farman Ahmed and the ball hit  Jack Haynes at short leg and the ball  could have gone anywhere but the ball fell short off Haseeb Hameed at mid-wicket.

In the last over before the scheduled lunch Ollie  Robinson pushed at Farman Ahmed and Kyle Verreynne took a smart catch. 

SCORECARD