Leicestershire vs Sussex: Match Report - Day Four Abandoned

Frequent heavy showers killed off any prospect of a positive result from Sussex’s visit to Leicestershire in the Vitality County Championship, meaning no play was possible at all on the final scheduled day of their Division Two clash.

Skipper John Simpson’s maiden double century had put Sussex in a strong position on day three, which ended with Leicestershire 270 in arrears at 86 for one in their second innings after Sussex had declared at 694 for nine just after tea, a lead of 356 on first innings. 

But after a saturated outfield delayed the start on day four, the combination of more showers and the safety issues raised by trying to remove the covering sheets in winds gusting to gale force gave umpires James Middlebrook and Paul Pollard little option but to abandon the match as a draw shortly before 1pm. 

It means both sides have two draws from two matches so far, with Sussex the more frustrated, having seen a winning position come to nothing against Northamptonshire at Hove last week, with weather again having the last word. 

Sussex take 14 points from this match, giving them 29 from two, with Leicestershire taking 12 to swell their early-season total to 25.

Report provided by ECB Reporter's Network

Reaction from Paul Farbrace after a draw at Leicestershire

Sussex Cricket Foundation Donates 

Funds & Equipment to School in India

Last month the Sussex Cricket Foundation proudly donated much needed funds and cricket equipment to a local New Base India School in Bangalore, India, as part of the Sussex Cricket’s pre-season tour.

New Base India is a charity which identifies vulnerable children, who are in the age gap of 6 years and above, and admits them into residential homes. Under the shelter of these homes, children get healthcare facilities, nutritious food and protection. Apart from providing basic amenities, children also get the required education.

The funds have been used to buy children food and clothing, whilst bats, balls and stumps were also provided to give the students more chances to play cricket. 

Sussex superstar, Jofra Archer, made a surprise visit to the school, supported by Player Services Manager, Colin Bowley, Social Media Manager, Jake Ketley and Sussex Board Member, Varadarajan Kalidasan. 

The trio spent the day handing out gifts, with Jofra testing his skills against the talented young locals!

Gary Wallis-Tayer, Community Cricket Director for the Sussex Cricket Foundation, said: “We were delighted to support the players pre-season tour to India by donating funds & equipment to a local school. 

“It is important for the Foundation and our professional players/staff to support communities, not only in the UK but also overseas, and by providing equipment to local children, it provides opportunities for them to access the game in a country where cricket is hugely popular.”

To find out more about the Sussex Cricket Foundation, please visit https://sussexcricket.co.uk/sussex-cricket-foundation

Leicestershire vs Sussex: Day Three Match Report

New captain John Simpson struck a maiden double century as Sussex put Leicestershire to the sword on day three of their Vitality County Championship clash, piling up the third highest total in their first-class history before declaring on 694 for nine.

Leicestershire closed on 86 for one in their second innings, trailing by 270. 

Former Middlesex wicketkeeper Simpson finished on 205 not out, having shared a seventh-wicket partnership of 255 with fellow Lancastrian Danny Lamb, another new face at the south coast club, whose 134 was also a career-best.

Ari Karvelas came in at No 10 to crack 55 off 40 balls and it was with his dismissal six overs after tea that Sussex declared with a first-innings lead of 356 in reply to Leicestershire’s 338 all out, with 24 overs left in the day.

With the insurance of a second innings available, Simpson clearly hoped his bowlers could dismiss Leicestershire for a second time in what remains of the match, although the weather forecast for the final day suggests there may be interruptions to play.

It was a dispiriting day for Leicestershire, whose bowlers had done an effective containing job with the old ball in Saturday’s final session before taking two important wickets with the new one, leaving Sussex six down and still 56 runs behind.

One more wicket while the second ball was still hard at the start of the third morning would have exposed the Sussex tail - but that wicket simply didn’t come. Indeed, apart from one sustained but firmly rejected appeal for a gloved caught behind by Ben Mike against Lamb, there was barely a hint of a breakthrough until five overs after lunch when Lamb, on 85, did get a bat to a legside delivery from Matt Salisbury but Ben Cox, diving to his left, could only help it to the boundary.

By that time, the seventh-wicket pair had added 150 to Sussex’s burgeoning total, 133 of which had come during as one-sided a morning session as this ground is likely to witness all year.  The Kookaburra ball is clearly no friend of bowlers in English April conditions and this one sat up to be hit far too often.

Lamb lifted it over the boundary rope four times in the session. On the third occasion, when Lamb slog-swept the spinner Liam Trevaskis over the seats on the popular side and the ball was temporarily lost, Leicestershire were handed a replacement, but it was no more responsive.

Simpson reached his fifty from 108 balls and his hundred from 197, passing the bigger milestone when he swivel-pulled Salisbury for his 15th four, his 11th century in first-class cricket. The shot brought up the Sussex 450 for good measure.  

Lamb, who moved from Lancashire over the winter, was quicker to a hundred than his partner by some distance, needing just 108 balls, adding 10 fours to the four sixes. Judging by the numbers crowding on to the Sussex balcony to applaud as he scampered through for a couple off Trevaskis before raising his bat, he is already a popular figure in his new dressing room.

Lamb thanked them with some high entertainment, bringing out the scoop for six number five off Mike, launching Trevaskis high over long-on to chalk up the 500 with his sixth maximum (equalling his old career-best of 125), and reverse-sweeping Louis Kimber, Leicestershire’s part-time off-spinner, for his seventh.

Little wonder that when his luck finally ran out - he was bowled attempting to heave Trevaskis over midwicket - he walked back to the pavilion grinning from ear to ear.  For the record, Lamb was the former Durham left-arm spinner’s maiden Leicestershire wicket, although figures of one for 192 might slightly take the gloss off it.

There was no end to Leicestershire’s ordeal, however. Jack Carson hit two sixes in a 23-ball 38 and Simpson flexed his muscles to add five sixes to 23 fours, his second hundred coming off 97 balls, before calling time on the innings when Karvelas was caught at long off from Kimber’s bowling.

Leicestershire negotiated the first 14 overs of the second innings without mishap, Rishi Patel having been dropped on 19, until the introduction of Jack Carson brought a breakthrough as the off-spinner’s first ball induced an inside edge on to pad as Australian opener Marcus Harris was caught at short leg.

Report provided by the ECB Reporter's Network

Reaction from Danny Lamb after his maiden century for Sussex
 

Leicestershire vs Sussex: Day Two Match Report

Sussex opener Tom Haines posted his second century of the season after all-rounder Fynn Hudson-Prentice had taken a career best five for 50 as their Vitality County Championship match against Leicestershire remained nicely balanced at the halfway stage. 

The visiting side closed on 282 for six in reply to Leicestershire’s 338 all out, trailing by 56.

Haines, who toured with England Lions the winter before last, followed his 133 against Northamptonshire in the opening round with 108 here, hitting 14 fours and a six. As Sussex dominated the first half of the day, Haines shared a second-wicket partnership of 168 with his fellow left-hander Tom Alsop, who made 49.  

But Leicestershire’s bowlers performed better as the afternoon progressed and earned a significant late breakthrough when Tom Scriven produced the ball of the day to bowl Cheteswar Pujara for 38 before Matt Salisbury (three for 43) dismissed Hudson-Prentice with the last ball of the day.

The day had begun with Leicestershire adding only 12 runs to their overnight score in losing their last two wickets. That disappointment was eased by a wicket from the first ball of the Sussex innings as Tom Clark edged a decent delivery from Salisbury to third slip but it turned out to be the only positive moment for Leicestershire in the whole of the opening session.

The remainder saw Haines and Alsop largely in charge, leaving Leicestershire to reflect on how much they were missing the unavailable Chris Wright in particular but also Josh Hull, the beanpole seamer who is currently recovering from a side strain.

As the home attack struggled to conjure any response with the Kookaburra, it sharpened the appreciation of Hudson-Prentice’s achievement. The former Derbyshire seamer, speaking on the first evening, did not quite declare himself to be a fan of the Kookaburra ball but saw bowling with it as an opportunity rather than a hindrance, reasoning that the challenge was a chance for county bowlers to develop different skills.

He completed his five-for - only the second of his career - in his first 10 deliveries on the second morning.  He bowled Liam Trevaskis - admittedly through a yawning gap between bat and pad - before finding an edge to have Salisbury caught behind by a diving John Simpson. 

Trevaskis, who has passed fifty eight times in first-class cricket but is yet to convert one to a hundred, did not add to his overnight 82.

Salisbury’s immediate success with the ball momentarily suggested that Sussex might have some work to do before they could start eating into Leicestershire’s total but in the event, although Alsop survived a chance off Salisbury to Scott Currie at short mid-wicket on 29, it was not until 20 overs into the afternoon that the second-wicket pair were parted.

Both were out in the space of four overs, Alsop bowled shouldering arms to Salisbury after the two had added 168 at not far short of four runs per over. Haines, having gone to 50 from 63 balls and completed his century from 128, was out to a miscued pull against Currie, the ball looping off a top edge to mid-off.

The 25-year-old left-hander registered three centuries in each of his first two full seasons to earn his Lions call-up but drew a blank last season, passing fifty six times without managing to make three figures once.

With the fillip of those wickets, Leicestershire seamers began to bowl better  as a collective, than earlier, in particular Ben Mike, repeatedly no-balled for overstepping in his first two spells, who was rewarded with a wicket when James Coles, tempted to go after a short-pitched ball, spooned a catch to mid-on.

They succeeded also in dragging back the scoring rate appreciably, persuading skipper Lewis Hill to delay taking the new ball until four overs after it was due.

A chance to inflict further damage with the old one was missed when Simpson, on nine, was dropped at midwicket off Trevaskis, but when the new one was taken, Scriven delivered a peach of a ball to beat Pujara’s defensive bat and clip off stump and Salisbury bowled Hudson-Prentice with one that may have kept a touch low.

Report provided by ECB Reporter's Network

Reaction from Tom Haines after another first-class century 

Leicestershire vs Sussex: Day 1 Match Report

After being put in to bat first, Leicestershire closed on 326 for eight on day one of their Division Two match against Sussex in the Vitality County Championship.

Three Leicestershire batters made half-centuries, Rishi Patel hitting 12 fours and two sixes in a knock of 87. Australia’s Peter Handscomb contributed a steady 51 while all-rounder Liam Trevaskis is 82 not out on his Leicestershire debut.

Sussex had the home side 63 for three midway through the morning session on a green-tinged pitch but were not able to press home their advantage.

They used eight different bowlers, although not their England quick Ollie Robinson, who is being rested for this round. Fynn Hudson-Prentice (three for 50) was the pick of them.

On a pitch that did not appear to be offering a much to the bowlers as Sussex might have anticipated when they opted to bowl first, he wasted little time in making his presence felt, rattling off seven boundaries in the opening 10 overs against the new Kookaburra as he and Marcus Harris put on 59 in 61 deliveries before Sussex achieved their first breakthrough.

His own half-century, which he reached with six over long-on, came from 59 deliveries. In another burst of boundaries as he and Leicestershire’s other Australian, Peter Handscomb, added 78 for the fourth wicket.

Patel converted half of his fifties to hundreds last season and will doubtless feel he should have made this one count for more. He fell five overs after lunch when, having been frustrated by a sequence of tidy overs, he was tempted by a short ball from Danny Lamb and gloved a relatively easy leg-side catch to John Simpson behind the stumps.

Sussex’s three morning successes with the ball had come in a cluster. Ari Karvelas, in for Robinson, found just enough off the pitch to have Harris caught behind. Two overs later, Fynn Hudson-Prentice marked his entry into the attack by taking wickets with his second and third balls, bringing one back to uproot Louis Kimber’s off stump and then bowling Lewis Hill with a delivery that seemed to keep quite low.

Patel’s demise ushered in Trevaskis for his debut innings. The left-handed all-rounder moved to Grace Road over the winter in search of more red-ball game time after his opportunities with Durham dried up, so he has something of a point to prove.

In that context he made a good first impression, providing solid support for Handscomb in a stand that added 65 for the fifth wicket, and helping Ben Cox rebuild after the Australian was bowled by off-spinner Jack Carson, beaten in the flight attempting to slog-sweep. 

Trevaskis helped eke out a further 49 with Cox before the latter, driving lavishly, bottom-edged into his stumps, and 43 with Ben Mike, who was caught-and-bowled off a leading edge after the second new ball had been taken. Tom Scriven was well caught at midwicket as Hudson-Prentice picked up a third wicket inside the last four overs of the day.

Cox’s demise provided a wicket for Tom Clark, the opening bat, who had not previously bowled his medium pace since September 2022 because of injury.

With no Rehan Ahmed in this match - the leg-spinning all-rounder is understood to be undertaking a pilgrimage to Mecca - and fast bowler Chris Wright again missing for personal reasons, Leicestershire will hope left-arm spinner Trevaskis can also prove his value with the ball.

Report provided by the ECB Reporters' Network

Reaction from Fynn Hudson-Prentice

Sussex Cricket Foundation raises £30k at 

‘Where Cricket Meets...Michael Vaughan & Phil Tufnell’

The Sussex Cricket Foundation is delighted to announce that its annual fundraiser, ‘Where Cricket Meets…’ raised £30,000 which will be used to help the Foundation to continue to grow the game of cricket across Sussex.

The special event saw former Ashes-winning England captain, Michael Vaughan joined on stage by teammate and England cricketing legend, Phil Tufnell, for an afternoon of hilarious stories and anecdotes, which was attended by nearly 400 people at the DoubleTree by Hilton Brighton Metropole. 

Sponsored by Community Partner, Webtrends Optimize, the conversation was hosted by Roger Dalkin, whilst the live auction was hosted by Sussex cricketing legend, Neil Lenham.

Speaking on the event, Gary Wallis-Tayler, Community Cricket Director, said: “We are thrilled to have raised significant money, to support our mission of actively changing lives through the power of cricket. 

“The vital funds raised will help enable my team to continue making cricket accessible to all across the County. 

“I would like to say a special thank you to Michael & Phil for entertaining us all afternoon, to our sponsors Webtrends Optimize for their continued support and to everyone who came out in force to support the Foundation, your support is truly appreciated.”

A number of prizes were generously donated by a number of local organisations, to which the Foundation would like to extend its thanks: Sir Rod Aldridge, Sodexo Live!, Surrey Cricket Foundation, Brighton Racecourse and Webtrends Optimize. 

Webtrends Optimize, Chief Executive, Matt Smith, added: ““As I’ve said before, we love being in a position to support the Sussex Cricket Foundation with all the fantastic work they do. 

“Events such as this, where such a huge amount was raised to help with that goal, genuinely makes me feel proud that we’re involved - all credit to the fantastic efforts of the SCF team for putting on such a great event!”

To read more about the crucial work the Sussex Cricket Foundation does across the County, read their 2023 Impact Report. 

Unfortunately the Second Eleven Championship fixture between Sussex and Middlesex, which was due to be played on Monday 15th April at Horsham, has been abandoned due to a waterlogged outfield. 

The recent heavy rain has left the grounds team at Horsham with no time to be able to prepare the pitch for the fixture. 

Leicestershire vs Sussex: Match Preview

After an encouraging start to the Vitality County Championship last week against Northamptonshire, Paul Farbrace takes a 13-player squad to the Upton Steel County Ground to take on Leicestershire, starting tomorrow. 

Squad

Alsop, Carson, Carter, Clark, Coles, Haines, Hudson-Prentice, Hunt, Karvelas, Lamb, Pujara, Seales, Simpson (C, WK)

Team News

Cheteshwar Pujara is included in the squad after arriving in Hove this week for his third season with Sussex. 

Ollie Robinson has been made available by the ECB for 5 of the opening 7 County Championship games and will not feature in this game.

How to Watch

As ever, every ball is available to watch, free of charge, on our livestream via our Match Centre. Action gets underway from 11am tomorrow. 

Watch Cheteshwar Pujara's First Interview in 2024

Sussex Cricket Hosts First Iftar at The 1st Central County Ground

Wednesday 27th March saw over 60 members of the local community come together with Sussex staff in the first ever Iftar event at The 1st Central County Ground.

Members of the Muslim community were invited to break their fast in an event organised by Sussex Board Member, Chiara Khan.

Attendees came from a range of areas in the County, including Brighton, Worthing, Crawley and Forge Wood.

Chiara Khan was joined by fellow Board Member, Varadarajan Kalidasan, as well as; Sussex Chair, Jon Filby, Sussex Men’s Head Coach, Paul Farbrace, Sussex Women’s Head Coach, Alexia Waker, Sussex Women's Regina Suddahazai Khan and Sussex Cricket Foundation Chair, Ish Jalal, for an evening which represented a groundbreaking first for Sussex Cricket. 

The event was the first of its kind ever to be held at the Cricket Club and began with an opening welcome from Jon Filby, before guests were invited to break their fast, pray and get together to celebrate the Islamic holy month.

Speaking on the event, Sussex Board Member, Chiara Khan said: “It is an absolute honour and privilege to have hosted the first Iftar event for SCL. 

“Being the first Muslims female Board Member I want to make great strides in countering the ICEC report. 

“Breaking fast and appreciating the community the Muslim cricket playing population of Northern Sussex provide was an enormous success and has been confirmed by the CEO, Pete Fitzboydon, that this will be an annual and funded event.”

The event was also an opportunity for the community to educate members of the Sussex Cricket organisation on the importance of Ramadan and what it means to be a Muslim, as well as an opportunity for people to discuss the potential barriers the community feels prevents them from joining in with the game. 

Sussex Chair, Jon Filby, added: “It was a privilege to welcome so many cricket loving people to Hove, for our first Iftar.

“We will certainly do it again next year and I very much hope that all those who came to the event will come back for cricket at Hove this summer.

“Eid Mubarak to all celebrating.”

Cheteshwar Pujara Returns: Exclusive Interview

Cheteshwar Pujara has returned for his third season at Sussex and his set to make his return on Friday against Leicestershire in the Vitality County Championship and he spoke exclusively to the Club on hopes for the team this season.

Pujara talks about cricket in India over the winter, the re-signing of friend and teammate Jaydev Unadkat, plus what he thinks it will take for Sussex to return to Division One. 

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