Day 4 – Durham 223 & 364/3 drew with Sussex 538
Openers Sean Dickson and Alex Lees compiled the fourth highest partnership in Durham’s history as their LV= County Championship match against Sussex at Hove predictably petered out to a draw.
They put on 313 for the first wicket with Dickson making 186 – his highest score for Durham – and Lees 105 before both fell in the same over from leg-spinner Mason Crane.
By then they had knocked off all but two runs of their first-innings deficit of 315 and when the players shook hands at 4.50pm Durham were 364 for three and leading by 49. Sussex take 15 points, Durham 10.
It was an outstanding effort by the Durham pair whose partnership was also the county’s highest for any wicket against Sussex.
The pair did a lot of the hard work needed to secure the draw by getting through 51 overs on the third day unscathed and the only chance either offered before they were parted came midway through the morning session when Lees was on 67 and mis-timed a pull off Henry Crocombe only for Crane to spill a regulation catch on the fine leg boundary.
Ali Orr got his hand to the ball but couldn’t cling on to a very difficult chance at short leg when Lees was on 97, but shortly afterwards he reached his 19th first-class century, made in three minutes shy of five hours, to add to the unbeaten 182 he scored against Glamorgan earlier in the season.
Sussex employed five bowlers in the pre-lunch session, but a slow pitch offering minimal lateral movement and only slow turn gave them little encouragement even when the new ball was taken immediately it became available.
Lees hit a six and ten fours and faced 262 balls and it was a surprise when he smashed a full toss from Crane straight to deep mid-wicket. If that wicket owed a bit to good fortune Crane was delighted when wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan held a catch at the second attempt after Dickson got a thin under-edge cutting later in the same over. Dickson’s 186 included a six and 20 fours and was his second hundred of the season.
Keegan Petersen and Scott Borthwick took their side past the first target to make Sussex bat again before persistent drizzle forced the teams off shortly before 3pm. They returned an hour later and Durham lost a third wicket when Borthwick pushed forward to Delray Rawlins’ left-arm spin and was athletically caught at slip by Rizwan, who had handed over wicket-keeping duties to Ali Orr by then and bowled a couple of overs of medium pace before the game ended.
Day 4 reaction – Alex Lees
“It turned into a bit of a dull draw. As a unit we didn’t bat very well in the first innings on what was a pretty good batting wicket. When Sean [Dickson] and I went out in the second innings we just batted normally to be honest. Sean played very fluently and we capitalised on a little bit of loose bowling.
Whenever you get runs you are happy although I wasn’t as happy this time around as when I got 182 against Glamorgan with how I actually felt at the crease but that’s a good sign for me in terms of my mental application. When you don’t always feel right and can still score runs that’s pleasing. I need to get re-selected first and foremost [for the New Zealand Test series] and to be truthful I’m just trying to get my head down in the next three first-class games. Having had a taste of Test cricket I want to play as much as I can but my only thoughts are short-term and getting runs for Durham.”
Day 3 – Durham 223 and 169-0, Sussex 538, Durham trail Sussex by 146 runs.
An unbroken opening stand of 169 between Alex Lees and Sean Dickson gave Durham an excellent chance of saving their LV= Insurance County Championship match against Sussex at Hove after they had conceded a first innings lead of 315.
Dickson completed his century just before the close, off 137 balls with 15 fours, while the more subdued Lees finished with 50 not out.
Earlier, Sussex had continued to dominate their fixture against one of the favourites for promotion as their overseas stars Cheteshwar Pujara and Mohammad Rizwaz put on 154 for the sixth wicket. Pujara scored 203, his second double century in three matches – and there was another hundred in the other match – while Rizwan found his form on his home debut with an innings of 79 as Sussex piled on 538.
There are enough cracks on the pitch to encourage the Sussex spinners on the final day. But Durham, who are 146 runs behind, feel they have a good chance of a fighting draw on what is still a good surface.
In the first session Sussex scored 128 runs without losing a wicket, which suggests the Durham bowling was poor. But Durham bowled well in discouraging conditions against two world class batsmen, and there was something heroic about the way Matthew Potts continued to generate pace and bounce bowling downhill from the Cromwell Road end.
The game changed shape dramatically after lunch, when Sussex lost five wickets for 34 runs in nine overs as the slow left-armer Liam Trevaskis followed his 88 runs with figures of five for 128.
That still gave Sussex a huge first innings advantage. But the Durham openers batted superbly in the final session to give their side hope.
The day started with Sussex on 362 for five, with Pujara 128 not out and Rizwan unbeaten on five. Durham probably suspected they were in for a hard time when Pujara rocked onto the back foot and punched the first ball of the morning for four. The India Test batsman scored just eight runs in the opening 45 minutes and it was Rizwan who was the busier of the two batsmen, scoring 36 by the time the pair had put in fifty. There were scares. Rizwan was almost run out by Dickson at point when he was 36 and Pujara, on 140, was close to being caught at first slip. But, mostly, it was sublime batting from the two star batsmen who proved their true worth in a young and depleted Sussex side.
At lunch – which came ten minutes later than scheduled because 13 overs had been missed on the second day – Sussex had reached 490 for five, a lead of 267, with Pujara 186 and Rizwan 74. The 150 partnership, which coincided with the side reaching 500, came off 149 balls but four runs later Rizwan, pulling hard against Matt Salisbury, was brilliantly caught by Trevaskis at deep square-leg.
Delray Rawlins, badly in need of runs, got off the mark with a slogged six over midwicket but, pulling, was bowled for 12. Two overs later Pujara, venturing down the wicket to Trevaskis, was stumped. He had faced 334 balls and struck 24 fours. It didn’t last much longer.
Henry Crocombe was caught at slip third ball and George Burrow was lbw to the second delivery he received. But the last session belonged to Durham
Day 3 reaction – Liam Trevaskis
We saw off the new ball well, and a little bit of spin. The ball is pretty soft now. We will come back tomorrow, the lads will get themselves back in, and we’ll take the match hour by hour. We feel positive with all ten still in the hutch. We need to bat six hours and we’ll give it our best shot. We’ve got the players to do it and it’s a good cricket wicket.
Day 2: Sussex 362-5 lead Durham 223 by 139 runs
Cheteshwar Pujara scored his third century in as many matches to give Sussex control on the second day of their LV= County Championship match against Durham at Hove.
Pujara scored a sublime hundred on his delayed Hove debut and the whole ground rose to applaud him. He was 128 not out, scored off 198 balls with 16 fours, when bad light brought play to an end with 13 overs still remaining. But by then Sussex were 362 for five and leading by 139 runs.
It felt distinctly chilly under the sullen clouds but Pujara shone more brightly than the floodlights as Sussex enjoyed their second good day against Durham.
Pujara had already scored an unbeaten 201 against Derbyshire and 109 against Worcestershire but this was his best innings for the county as he dominated a partnership of 143 with Tom Clark – the pair had put on 121 against Worcestershire.
Clark was out immediately after reaching his half-century, brilliantly caught by the diving Matthew Potts at deep backward square-leg.
Sussex had started the second day on 82 for one, still 141 in arrears. Durham were handicapped from the start by the absence of their leading fast bowler Chris Rushworth, who failed overnight concussion protocols and was replaced in the side by Oliver Gibson.
Rushworth was badly missed, though Ben Raine bowled impressively. Sussex lost their first wicket of the day on 95, when Ali Orr was lbw to Potts.
Night watchman Mason Crane – on a month’s loan from Hampshire but born in nearby Shoreham-by-Sea – did his job by surviving for 60 deliveries before he was bowled by a fine delivery from Matt Salisbury.
That made it 108 for three, with the match very much in the balance. But that brought Pujara to the crease. He was well supported, in the first instance, by Tom Alsop, another import from Hampshire.
Alsop, given the pivotal No 3 spot, had made a disappointing start to his Sussex career but here he played very soundly for a 129-ball 66 before he was lbw to Liam Trevaskis.
Alsop and Pujara had added 99 for the fourth wicket. But it was when Pujara was joined by Clark that the Indian Test batsman’s innings really took off.
Durham took the new ball just before tea but in the few overs before that Pujara attacked the Durham spinners with relish, pulling with immense power and striking five fours in two overs.
Bad light stopped play at quarter to 6 with 13 overs still remaining in the day.
Day 2 Reaction – James Franklin
“We fell short on the first day, making a disappointing total on a good pitch. And we were without Chris Rushworth. He wasn’t feeling great and we decided to be very cautious with him. And then today Sussex batted beautifully, with Pujara, Alsop and Clark. Now we have to face up in the third innings because we’ll be under some scoreboard pressure. But it’s a great first-class wicket.
Day 1 Durham 223ao, Sussex 82/1 trail Durham by 141
Durham have work to do going into the second day of their LV= County Championship match against Sussex, having been bowled out for 223 at Hove.
Durham’s total represented something of a fightback after they had been 75 for six with Liam Trevaskis supervising their recovery with a career-best 88.
Aaron Beard, on his Sussex debut after signing for a month from Essex, and Tom Clark both took three wickets but Durham’s total looked some way short of par.
And Haines and Orr put conditions in perspective in a first-wicket stand of 68. Haines hit ten fours, including three in one over off Matt Salisbury, but Matthew Potts bowled him off a very thin inside edge for 54, shortly after bringing up his fifty.
The pitch looked good for batting but Durham, who won the toss, soon lost opener Alex Lees although it was a misjudgement by the England opener, who drove loosely at Henry Crocombe and was caught behind in the sixth over.
There were few alarms for Sean Dickson and South African Keegan Petersen who took the total to 61 when Clark picked up his first wicket. Again, it was a misjudgement by the batter as Petersen drove off the back foot straight to backward point.
Suddenly Durham’s top order had been blown away in a mad half-hour as five wickets tumbled for 15 runs in 7.1 overs. Clark picked up Dickson and in the next over Beard struck in his ninth over as David Bedingham got a thin edge as he pushed forward.
Skipper Haines replaced Beard and had immediate success when skipper Scott Borthwick was well caught in the gully by Orr. In the next over Clark had his third wicket with Ned Eckersley also leg before playing across the line.
Durham were 79 for six at lunch but Trevaskis and Ben Raine regrouped in the afternoon. There was an extraordinary moment when Crocombe pitched the ball on the second bounce on an adjoining pitch and Trevaskis stepped several yards out of his crease to swipe it down to fine leg.
Their seventh-wicket stand had been worth 53 in 17 overs when Beard struck in the third over of his new spell as Raine fell leg before to a delivery slanted across him.
Leg-spinner Mason Crane has also joined Sussex on a month’s loan from Hampshire but Trevaskis greeted his arrival into the attack by hitting successive boundaries to bring up his fifty and he progressed to a fine 88 in a stand of 87 in 26 overs with Matthews Potts.
But Crane returned after tea to have Trevaskis superbly caught at short fine-leg by the diving Orr and Potts held off a too-edged slog sweep in successive overs. Beard took a return catch off Matt Salisbury to finish with three for 51 while Clark was the pick of the attack with three for 21 from 17 overs.
Durham’s attack leader Chris Rushworth needed a concussion check after he was struck on the back of the helmet by Clark’s bouncer and Rushworth had little luck when he took the new ball as Haines and Orr ensured it was Sussex’s day.
Day 1 Reaction – Liam Trevaskis
“It was a topsy-turvy day. Sussex bowled tightly and it was pretty hard to score, especially against bowlers coming down the hill. When Ben [Raine] and I came together we had a plan to run hard, put them under pressure and keep the scoreboard moving. It was good to get a score and it was frustrating to get out. No offence to Mason [Crane] but it wasn’t the best ball and I thought it was going for four, but it was a decent catch [by Ali Orr]. I wasn’t happy but it was good to get a score. It’s a pretty good pitch but there might be some inconsistent bounce at the end of the game. Hopefully we can make inroads early tomorrow.”