http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sussex-c852 defeat Hampshire by five wickets: County Championship Division One – Sussex’s First Innings Recap
The Sussex bowlers did a decent job, restricting http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013, on Monday, July 11, 2011.
The visitors had won the toss and opted to bat on a good pitch, but would have been disappointed with their first innings total.
It would have pleased the Sussex team though, but they had to work hard in their first outing in order to keep the momentum on their side. The team was all-out for 240 though, taking a small lead of 34 runs in the end.
Lower-order batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Oliver-Philip-Rayner-c80200, did a fabulous job for his team, scoring an unbeaten 62 runs. His innings gave the lead to the hosts, otherwise the entire team would have been bowled out below 200.
The playing conditions didn’t change http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gordon-James-Muchall-c60376, as the pitch remained supportive for both batsmen and the bowlers. However, batting started to become easier with the passage of time.
Sussex didn’t get off to an ideal start in their first innings, as they lost a couple of wickets early. Opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Chris-Nash-c1247 was the first man to be dismissed in the innings after adding just four runs to the total.
England’s http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ed-Joyce-c1417 was the next man to be dismissed. He failed to open his account and had to take a long walk back to the pavilion, leaving his side under immense pressure at 2/5.
However, the innings was held together by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Murray-Goodwin-c2040. Both players batted with a lot of maturity, rescuing their team from disaster.
Goodwin looked solid and was well set in the middle. He failed to carry onto the start to his innings though and was sent back to the pavilion after adding 28 runs to the total.
Wicketkeeper batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Matthew-James-Prior-c75192 failed to make an impression and was dismissed cheaply for five. He was followed by Wells, who missed-out on a half-century by just one run, getting out for 49.
The hosts were in deep trouble at that stage of the innings, losing five wickets for 109 runs on the board. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andrew-John-Hodd-c44440 and Rayner put together 33 runs for the sixth wicket, giving some momentum to their side.
However, Hodd was dismissed after adding 23 runs to the total and Sussex were once again in trouble.
Rayner batted extremely well under pressure and took the total closer to 250 with his impressive half-century. He ran out of partners from the other end, collecting 62 runs off 118 balls with the help of eight boundaries.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Danny-Briggs-c1315 caused a lot of problems for the opposition, taking four wickets in the innings for Hampshire.
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