Sussex finally beaten in hard-fought fixture

Photos: John Heald Photography

Yorkshire ultimately prevailed on the fourth morning of their LV= Insurance County Championship match against Sussex at The 1st Central County Ground, winning by 48 runs.

The visitors took 70 minutes to take the four remaining Sussex wickets and complete their second successive win, but a Sussex side containg eight players aged 24 or younger and with one international compared with Yorkshire's six can be proud of their display in a captivating fixture.

England off-spinner Dom Bess took the final wicket to finish with figures of six for 53. They collected 19 point against Sussex’s four. It was always an unlikely run chase for Sussex but they - and in particular their captain Ben Brown - made a fight of it 

Sussex started the fourth day on 136 for six, requiring a further 99 runs for victory, with Brown unbeaten on 26 and new batsman Ollie Robinson yet to face a ball following George Garton’s dismissal from the final delivery of the previous day.

Back out to bat. 9⃣9⃣ needed! 👊

Watch @Ben_Brown26 and @OllieRobinson25 get day four underway, resuming on 136-6:

— Sussex Cricket (@SussexCCC) April 25, 2021

Yorkshire opened up with Steven Patterson from the Cromwell Road End and Bess from the Sea End.  And with the second ball of the 59th over – the seventh of the morning – Yorkshire broke through with the wicket of Robinson.  The batsman pushed forward to a delivery from Patterson which nipped back and caught him in front of his off-stump.  Sussex had added just nine runs and Robinson’s 17-ball stay had yielded six.

Yorkshire knew they were through to the Sussex tail but Brown and Jack Carson - full of resolve - defied them with a stand of 35. Carson got a thick edge for four off Patterson and repeated the trick when the bowler was replaced by Jordan Thompson.

Brown, meanwhile, provided the best stroke of the morning when he drove a full length delivery from Thompson through the covers for four.  At the other end, at 180 for seven, England captain Joe Root replaced Bess and with his third delivery he made the second breakthrough of the morning when Carson edged to Adam Lyth at first slip for 18.

Sussex lost their ninth wicket in the next over when Thompson plucked out Brown’s middle stump.  The Sussex captain, who appeared to be unlucky with his first innings dismissal, had batted for two hours and 21 minutes and faced 111 balls for his 46.  And it was all over in the next over when Bess, who had just been hit over mid-on for four by Henry Crocombe, had the batsman caught by the leaping David Willey at short midwicket.

At the conclusion of the match, Ben Brown offered his thoughts. “It was disappointing to lose but we played some good cricket and came out of this game with a lot of pride.  We were up against a seriously good Yorkshire side with a number of international players and for our young team it was nip and tuck all the way.

“Tom Haines looked good again and Jack Carson went toe to toe with the England off-spinner Dom Bess.  We could have got more runs in the first innings but a few things didn’t go our way.”

Andrew Gale, Yorkshire’s first team coach, said, “It was a fantastic win, particularly from where we were on the first day.  We didn’t do ourselves justice in the first innings but we showed great character and resilience after that.  We won by a decent margin in the end and I’m really proud of them.

“The batting is an issue at the moment but to still be winning games is very pleasing.  But we have got to start to put big first innings scores on the board”