Yorkshire vs Sussex

Yorkshire completed an innings and 128-run victory over Sussex midway through the fourth afternoon at Scarborough to hoist themselves out of the bottom two places in Division One.

Sussex started the final day of this 11th-round clash on 115 for three in their second innings, trailing by 208.

On a deteriorating North Marine Road surface, their fate was obvious inside the day’s opening 20 minutes as they lost three wickets for the addition of two runs in the opening 26 balls, teetering on 117 for six. 

So it proved, even though their resistance through to mid-afternoon was impressive. They were bowled out for 195, including five for 31 from 16.4 overs for new-ball seamer Matt Milnes - his first five-for in the Championship since September 2021 following injury. Fynn Hudson-Prentice finished 52 not out off 156 balls. 

Yorkshire’s third win yielded 22 points, Sussex’s fourth defeat handing them only two.

The gap between the two sides is now just a solitary point ahead of the September run-in. The pair meet again at Hove midway through next month, one of three remaining games.

The White Rose have been replaced in ninth place in the table - second-bottom - by Durham, who were beaten at home by Surrey this week. The gap between the two is 12 points. 

Yorkshire would even go above Essex should their game with Warwickshire at Chelmsford finish drawn. 

In their last three games, Yorkshire not only face Sussex but Durham as well. They meet at Headingley in the final match of 2025. 

The hosts made the ideal start to the day. 

Danial Ibrahim and Daniel Hughes fell, the two not out batters overnight, for 51 and 57 respectively added to the departure of captain John Simpson for a duck. 

Milnes claimed the first two. Ibrahim was caught low down at second slip by Adam Lyth before Hughes was bowled playing back to one which kept low and scooted through.

Simpson was then bowled as he tried to leave alone one angled in from Milnes’ new-ball partner Jack White.

Danny Lamb was next to go, caught behind off Will Sutherland’s seam - 143 for seven. 

Lamb fell chasing a wide ball having added 26 with fellow all-rounder Hudson-Prentice. Sussex needed much, much more.

Sussex reached lunch at 166 for seven, Hudson-Prentice with 32.

He played handsomely down the ground off seam, even using his feet against White on couple of occasion to find the boundary wide of mid-on. 

Hudson-Prentice was excellent in becoming Sussex’s third half-centurion of the innings, this coming off 138 balls. By the time he got there midway through the afternoon, Sussex were 188 for seven with 48 overs remaining in the day.

He shared 47 for the eighth wicket with Jack Carson, who was the eighth man to fall when caught by diving Lyth at slip low down to his right - 191 for eight. 

Replays suggest Carson was unfortunate to be given out, confirming the initial impression given by the batter stomping off the field.

Things happened quickly from there, with Sussex falling almost 44 overs short of survival.

This was Milnes’ first five-wicket haul for Yorkshire as he comes to the end of his third year with the club. His last was for Kent. He has since suffered a nightmare with multiple back stress fractures.

But he was excellent here, polishing things off by getting Grinder Sandhu caught at point and then Henry Crocombe caught behind with a beauty for a golden duck.

In all, Milnes claimed seven wickets in the match.