Sussex crash to defeat against Northants

SUSSEX County Cricket Club crashed to a 62-run defeat to Northamptonshire in YB40 Group A at Arundel Castle on Sunday (June 16).

That followed the drawn County Championship Division 1 match with Surrey at Arundel, when the first day on Wednesday was abandoned without a ball being bowled owing to rain.

An estimated crowd of 3,000 watched the action on Sunday. Play was delayed by 15 minutes owing to morning rain and the game got underway at 2pm, with 39 instead of 40 overs a side.

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Sussex won the toss and opted to field and Northamptonshire scored 191-6 off their 39 overs as Alex Wakely struck 69 and Ben Duckett hit a run-a-ball 47 as spinners Chris Nash and Will Beer took two wickets each for Sussex.

Sussex’s innings got off to the worst possible start as Nash, Luke Wright and Luke Wells were all out with the score on one.

Captain Ed Joyce’s dismissal left Sussex 7-4 after 5.3 overs and it was always going to be a struggle from then onwards. Rory Hamilton-Brown fell for 11 after a 25-run stand with Mike Yardy, which made the score 32-5.

Yardy and Ben Brown gave Sussex fans a glimmer of hope with a 74-run stand but their partnership was ended when Yardy went for a big shot off David Willey and was bowled for 52.

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Brown was bowled by Azharullah 11 runs later for 40 and Northants soon wrapped up victory as Sussex were all out for 128 in 34.3 overs.

The Championship match with Surrey ended in a draw on Saturday as Chris Nash’s century resulted in the captains’ shaking hands on the draw.

Nash hit 102 not out as Sussex scored 201-2 from 59 overs.

Sussex had been dismissed for 295 in their first innings, while Surrey then declared on 456-9 as Vikram Solanki and Zander de Bruyn both struck centuries.