Sussex's persistence pays off as Gloucestershire suffer late collapse

Five wickets for just eight runs inside the final seven overs saw Sussex snatch the upper hand at the end of day two of their Specsavers County Championship match against Gloucesterhire at Cheltenham College.

Sussex’s attack had been forced to toil for much of the day as Miles Hammond scored a maiden first-class century and Gloucestershire passed their first innings total for the loss of just three wickets.

Ben Brown’s men kept the scoring rate in check throughout, however, so that Gloucestershire’s lead was just nine when David Wiese sparked a spectacular collapse that saw the home side slump from 295 for 3 to 303 for 8 at the close.

Wiese bowled Graham van Buuren for 11 to bring nightwatchman George Drissell to the crease, who kept out 18 deliveries before Jofra Archer knocked back his stumps in the penultimate over.

Archer had Ryan Higgins – also bowled – next ball, before getting rid of Kieran Noema-Barnett – caught behind by Brown – two deliveries later. A dot ball followed to give the Sussex seamer a triple wicket maiden.

Ollie Robinson then trapped Craig Miles in front for four with what turned out to be the final delivery of the day.

Earlier, Hammond produced a maiden first-class century packed with courage, patience and skill.

Born and bred in Cheltenham, the 22-year-old left-hander overcame an early blow on the helmet to strike 103 off 203 balls, with 20 fours.

Skipper Chris Dent contributed 65 to an opening stand of 182. Then James Bracey (34) and Gareth Roderick (48 not out) built on the efforts of the openers.

Despite the comparative lack of wickets, the Sussex bowling was far from toothless earlier in the day; Archer and Ollie Robinson, in particular, producing some pacey spells on a pitch still offering bounce and going past the bat on numerous occasions

Hammond and Dent had to survive a torrid first hour, which saw Hammond struck on the helmet by Robinson and Dent dropped at third slip off Robinson with his score on 14 and the total 44.

But soon the batsman with the famous Gloucestershire cricketing surname was producing a string of exquisite cover drives reminiscent of his illustrious predecessor, the late, great Wally Hammond, albeit left-handed.

That shot accounted for most of the 11 fours, which took Hammond to his half-century off 86 balls. When the stand with Dent reached 115 it was Gloucestershire’s highest opening partnership of the season.

Dent went to fifty off 151 balls, with 6 fours, having dropped anchor responsibly in the face of some testing seam bowling. By lunch he and Hammond had taken the total to 137.

They were eventually parted when Dent lost concentration and helped a delivery from left-arm spinner Danny Briggs, scooping a catch to Jofra Archer and short fine-leg.

Hammond reached three figures with a square cut boundary off David Wiese, but two balls later edged a wide one from the same bowler through to wicketkeeper Ben Brown.

The young local product left the ground to a standing ovation, having marked only his fourth first class appearance, and his first since 2015, with an innings he will remember for ever.

Roderick and Bracey then added 65 either side of tea before Bracey fell to the second new ball, lbw to Chris Jordan, trapped in his crease, with the total of 259.

Following his heroics late in the day, Jofra Archer had this to say at the close: “It was probably the weirdest day's cricket I have been involved with. For two sessions we hardly took a wicket and then five came in no time.

"We didn't think we had the best of luck with bat or ball up to the closing overs. When they sent a nightwatchman in I went up to our skipper and asked to bowl. Thankfully, things worked out from there.

"The coach kept telling us we would get our rewards as the day went on and in the end he was right."