Sussex ‘taught a fair bit’ by heavy Nottinghamshire defeat

Following a bruising first two days at Trent Bridge, Sussex were unable to turn things around on Day 3 and only added a further 83 runs for the loss of their last three wickets to set a target of 148.

Nottinghamshire hardly broke a sweat in the most favourable batting conditions of the game, and with captain Haseeb Hameed (62 not out) continuing from his earlier success alongside a red-hot Ben Duckett (59* from 31 balls), the hosts swiftly became outright Division One leaders.

“We’re disappointed that we’ve lost the game,” said Farbrace. “We expect to play well and compete in every game. This game’s taught us a fair bit about us as a team.”

The match was dictated by frailty in Sussex’s middle-order batting and a lack of bowling depth, which were ruthlessly exposed by a Nottinghamshire side boasting several past or present international players.

Farbrace opted to replace the injured Danny Lamb with batsman-wicketkeeper Oli Carter rather than frontline bowler Ari Karvelas, but with the Trent Bridge surface offering plenty for seam bowlers, the head coach looked back on this as an error.

“When I talk about mistakes being made, I’m just as culpable in that,” said Farbrace. “I thought that our best way of winning the game was batting first, and when the pitch got drier, it would bring our spinners into the game.

“I’m definitely not saying the players have made poor decisions, because I’ve made a poor decision. Whether I’ve misread it or expected too much of our players, I’m not quite sure.”

Farbrace also assessed his decision to entrust batsman Tom Clark as the side’s fourth seam bowling option as a misjudgement.

“The other thing where I probably got it wrong is I probably put too much on Tom Clark to be the fourth seamer,” said Farbrace. “Tom probably hasn’t bowled enough overs in a game to be that fourth seamer. He didn’t bowl well, but that’s probably down to me putting him under a bit too much pressure.”

With no wins against Notts since September 2014, Sussex could write off this result as an aberration, but in truth there were some worrying cracks.

A first morning collapse made the entire match an uphill task, and while Ollie Robinson (4-94) and Jayden Seales (4-107) responded well in Nottinghamshire’s first innings, a lack of support for the pair allowed Notts to reach 300 all out.

Some wasteful middle order performances then saw Sussex slip from 89-0 to 167-7 late on day two, leaving far too much for skipper John Simpson (74) and Jack Carson (43) to do on the following morning.

“We’re disappointed in the way that we’ve lost the game, but Notts played well,” said Farbrace. “Probably, it was a 250, 260 wicket, and we ended up with 169. Straight away, you’re looking at a gap of 70 or 80 runs.

“Apart from Ollie Robinson, we didn’t bowl very well with the new ball on that first day and they probably scored 50 or 60 more runs than they should have done. Then you come to batting in the second innings, and you’re 89 for none [then] 110 for four, and we went a bit timid in that period. We stopped looking to score runs and that’s not how we want to play.

“It’s not just a case of not playing well. At times, it’s about maybe not making the right decision and at times it was about not executing your decision well enough. We haven’t got it quite right here and we’ve been beaten by a better team who adapted to the conditions better than we did. But by and large, I’m quite pleased with where we’re at. I think we’re a team that are very honest. We’re learning together.”

Sussex now have a well-timed week off, as the County Championship rotates which teams are in action. Next up they welcome Worcestershire to Hove from next Friday (May 9). They will be without Sean Hunt for the next three months, but Lamb is a possible returnee for the fixture.