Nottinghamshire Start Season With Win

Sussex 375 & 172 v Nottinghamshire 534/9 dec & 14/0 (County Championship Division Two) 08.04.22

*day four (of four) Nottinghamshire win by ten wickets

A perfect start to proceedings for Nottinghamshire who wrap up their first match in the County Championship second tier this season with an impressive win and a good number of points totalled on the road.

It was another stunning morning on the Sussex coast as Nottinghamshire aimed to bit by bit chop down their plucky opponents who started the first session of the final day of this match needing 130 runs before they could even think about giving their visitors a fourth innings target to chase.

On 29/1 with the overnight loss of Tom Haines, Ali Orr and nightwatchman Jamie Atkins went about their business trying to make things as hard as possible for the Notts bowlers, the latter though not correctly reading the remit, hooking Brett Hutton into the deep and welcomely into the hands of sub fielder Calvin Harrison, the first wicket of the day for Nottinghamshire with Atkins leaving on eight.

Lyndon James was next to breakthrough the Sussex defence, Alsop just six runs into his innings chasing a wide one which he nicked to Moores who said thank you very much.

89/3 at lunch, Orr on 38 and Carter 13 not out, Sussex still trailing by 70 and perhaps thinking that saving the match over the next two sessions was going to look a very tricky job indeed to pull off.

That got even more difficult for the hosts when Hutton got his second wicket of the innings soon into the second session, a plumb lbw for Carter who left the arena on 17.

Sussex did manage to ton up their score but soon after Notts got a big one, Orr five short of his fifty flicking one to short leg off Hutton where Ben Slater was on hand to take low down. Orr’s innings a substantial 161 balls after a decent 68 on the first day.

Another big scorer in the first innings, Tom Clark, who scored 100, was next to go, this time for just seventeen as Sussex fell to 130 for 5. Patterson-White tricking the batsman to come forward and clip it to Mullaney at slip via a deflection off wicketkeeper Moores.

Six runs scored later Rawlins got his over-enthusiastic pull shot all wrong, swinging on to his own stumps off the bowling of Lyndon James, he went for nine with the home side seven down and still trailing by 23.

Seven became eight when Liam Patterson-White trapped Lenham leg before, Sussex one run short at this point, however with Steve Finn and Henry Crocombe out in the middle, they did finally surpass the Notts first innings total to at least give Peter Moores side the chance to come out and bat again.

Shortly after tea however Crocombe was dumbfounded by the spin of Patterson-White, out LBW by LPW for 11 with the Sunderland spinner starring for Notts with the ball, his eight wickets for the match and season have him leading the scalps charts in green and gold.

With the last batsman Ibrahim unable to come out, innings wrapped up with a lead of 13 by Sussex ensured a quick chase from Notts to bring home, Slater and Hameed doing the honours, the latter hitting three successive boundaries before Slater ran two to give the away side a ten wicket win.

Many candidates for man of the match after a thoroughly good team performance with an important first innings five for by Liam Patterson-White, Joey Evison on his maiden century and Steve Mullaney who’s best ever score of 192.

Sussex XI: Orr, Haines (c), Alsop, Carter, Clark, Ibrahim, Rawlins, Lenham, Finn, Crocombe, Atkins.

Nottinghamshire XI: Slater, Hameed, Duckett, Clarke, James, Mullaney (c), Moores, Patterson-White, Evison, Hutton, Fletcher.

Venue: The County Cricket Ground, Hove