Promoted Sussex make D40 debut against Middlesex

Middlesex D40 Disability (227-5) beat Sussex Disability D40 (85-9) by 142 runs.

On a glorious early May Sunday, Sussex had their first D40 match of the season following their promotion in 2017.

Middlesex won the toss and elected to bat on what was a very hot afternoon. Pete Brown and Jack Spencer Jones opened the attack with some lively and accurate bowling.

Spencer Jones removed one of the Middlesex openers, caught behind by Callum Wolff. Middlesex then played very well scoring at five-an-over.

 Sussex then varied the attack introducing Declan Dexter and debutant Nathanial Clowes before another debutant, Jon Dakic, made the second breakthrough.

Dakic spearheaded the Sussex attack taking four wickets from his eight overs including one caught and bowled.

He shared the bowling with a third Sussex debutant, Meg Loveland, who beat the bat a number of times during her five overs, and Josh Dixon who bowled an economical 3 overs of spin.

The bowling was supported by some excellent fielding especially Loveland’s tireless chasing down of the ball and Rhys Galloway’s brilliant catch.Sadly, Galloway’s catch came at a price with him needing to go to the hospital immediately afterwards with a severely cut hand.

Middlesex eventually reached 227-5 from their 40 overs

That was always going to be a challenging target for Sussex especially with ten batsmen.

Things didn’t start well with Aaron Green, Nathaniel Clowes and Declan Dexter all back in the pavilion with the score on 13.

Sussex recovered through a 57-run partnership from Jon Dakic and Meg Loveland. Dakic dispatched several bad balls to the boundary, including one huge six, while Loveland provided solid back-up at the other end.

Sussex reached 70 before Dakic was caught. This was followed by a flurry of quick wickets and just after the 20 over mark Sussex were all out for 85.

Middlesex clearly deserved their win, but the score line, as is often the case, doesn’t tell the full story. Despite it being a very hot afternoon, Sussex stuck to their task well.

All the players were aware that in moving up a division this year the standard of opposition was going to be higher. However, the players showed they can compete at this level and on another day the result could easily have been a lot closer.