Farbrace addresses Kookaburra concerns after Sussex-Warwickshire clash drifts to draw

Tom Latham led the way with 69 and there were half-centuries for skipper Alex Davies and Sam Hain with Warwickshire on 260 for four, a lead of 142, when the players shook hands at 4.50pm. Sussex took 14 points, Warwickshire 13.

After only 21 wickets had fallen on the first three days there was little likelihood of a clatter on day four, and the already slim odds on Sussex forcing a victory lengthened when 18 overs were lost to rain and bad light before lunch.

Sussex employed spin for most of the day with Ollie Robinson even bowling two overs of off-breaks to support the efforts of off-spinner Jack Carson and slow left-armer James Coles, who bowled 53.3 overs between them.

There was some occasionally sharp turn out of the rough and with men clustered around the bat Warwickshire’s batters needed to be diligent and they were. The only disappointment was that neither Davies nor Latham, who were well set, could convert their hard work into a century. Hain’s unbeaten 53 came off 170 balls and he didn’t hit a single boundary.

Warwickshire began on 88 for one, still 30 runs behind, and they knocked off 20 of that deficit in the 25 minutes before bad light followed by rain forced the players off.

When they returned Coles struck with his third ball, which spun a little and Davies edged it to slip where Tom Haines held a reflex catch to his left. Davies’ 58 – his fifth fifty of the season – included nine fours.

Carson had been expected to bowl from the sea end, where Warwickshire’s off-spinner Corey Rocchiccioli had taken his six wickets, but it was Coles who settled into a long spell up the slope instead. Robinson, hoping his higher release point might disconcert the batters, gave him a brief respite before Coles returned in the 58th over to pick up a second wicket with his third ball back.

Latham, having played well for 69, clipped a ball to short leg and Dan Ibrahim clung on to the ball at chest height. The New Zealander had batted for more than three hours and looked good for a few more.

At one stage Coles bowled to a ring of four fielders 15 yards from the bat on the off side before going off halfway through his 21st over. Carson, meanwhile, was into his 31st over before getting a belated reward for his efforts when Zen Malik (44) was caught at leg slip off bat and pad.

When Carson came off Fynn Hudson-Prentice bowled some off breaks of his own and even opener Dan Hughes turned his arm over before a halt was called.

Sussex coach Paul Farbrace said: "By using the Kookaburra ball at this time of the season you are hoping that your spinners get more overs and the seamers learn to reverse-swing it, but it's been tough and the last two games with the Kookaburra haven't made for exciting cricket.

"It's a shame when I walked into the ground on the second day and people told me they knew it was going to be a draw. But we said we'd use it for four rounds and we can't be defeatist, we can't just resign ourselves to accepting that the other two games at the end of the month with the Kookaburra are also going to be draws.

"We have to find a way to compete and perhaps be a bit more thoughtful in our approach to playing with it."