County Championship 2025. Division 1. Sussex v Somerset 11^th, 12^th, 13^th and 14^th April. Hove.

Sussex. D.P. Hughes, T.J. Haines, T.G.R. Clark, T.P. Alsop, J.M. Coles, J.A. Simpson (c) (w), F.J. Hudson-Prentice, D.J. Lamb, J.J. Carson, J.N.T. Seales, S.F. Hunt.

Somerset. A.M. Vaughan, S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory (c), K.L. Aldridge, M. Pretorius, J.H. Davey, M.J. Leach.

Overnight. Sussex 294 and 246 for 1. Somerset 201. Sussex lead by 339 runs with nine second innings wickets standing.

Third day – Sussex stick to their plan

If one of the purposes of offering everyone free entry on day three of this match was to encourage families and young people to watch Championship cricket, the day was a stunning success. The Sharks Stand and the large numbers of folding chairs on the grass at the Cromwell Road End saw families with young children and groups of twenty and thirty-somethings mingle in large numbers with the usual Championship supporters from a generation or so above. Children playing cricket on the outfield at tea or on the concourse behind the stands as I circumnavigated at lunch was a joy to behold. Some of those playing behind the stands knew how to hold a straight bat too, although one was beautifully yorked, the ball passing directly above the cone which had been borrowed to serve as stumps. Close enough though to have disturbed a real set of stumps. For the most part, the families and youth of the county seemed to be enjoying the cricket in the middle, perhaps helped by Sussex running away with the game. A couple of rows behind me, a young woman had brought her young son, a first time at the cricket for both. She could be heard asking a more seasoned watcher, probably seasoned by many decades of watching Sussex, about the workings of the game.

It was a perfect day, at least the first half of it was, to introduce new people to the game. Warm, sunny, with a cool breeze, if you were in the sun; a chill breeze if you wondered into the shade, although that turned to the traditional bitter breeze of watching cricket in April as the afternoon wore on. The overall crowd was large too. Not quite as large as on the first day, but significantly larger than on the second. The cricket itself was curious, to Somerset supporters at least. Sussex began the day with a lead of 339 and nine wickets with which to add to it. There were six sessions left in the match to gather whatever runs they judged they needed and then to bowl Somerset out for a second time. The pitch was not as flat as the one on which Worcestershire had batted for over 200 overs at Taunton the week before, but it held no demons either, and Sussex had passed 200 the previous day for the loss of one wicket. And yet, Sussex had seemed in no hurry to get Somerset back in.

In figures, between the start and lunch, there were 32 overs, 88 runs, 2.8 an over, one six and six fours with the six, from Coles, coming off the final ball of the session. It hardly spoke of a team pressing for victory. At the same time, there was nothing obdurately defensive about the way Sussex batted. It had all the appearance of a carefully regulated progress, of a team in control, working to a plan. My notes show 47 of the 88 runs coming in singles, mostly carefully pushed, turned and guided through gaps in the field. Many went to the four or five deep fielders that occupied the boundary for most of the morning. The abiding impression was of carefully controlled strokes and the ball running smoothly to the deep fielder, while the deep fielder moved calmly to collect and return the ball. Only occasionally was the ball struck sharply, or a run scampered. The rising of the Sussex score at two or three runs an over seemed almost predestined. At the other end of the equation, despite Sussex holding the match in the palm of their hand, the Somerset bowlers stuck to their task. There was no loose bowling to speak of, and by lunch those three wickets had fallen and Sussex were never tempted to break free from their self-imposed constraints.

Josh Davey was the pick of the pace bowlers and the only one to show signs of troubling the batters. In the first over of the day, he beat Tom Haines and then found the edge of his bat with his next ball, the ball flying at catchable height wide of slip. In his fourth over he found the edge of Tom Clark’s bat. This time the ball went at catchable height through a now empty slip area, Lewis Gregory looking thoughtfully at the empty space, but the field remained unchanged. In his next over, Davey got his reward, Clark caught by James Rew trying to keep the ball out. Sussex 274 for 2, Clark 44. But with the lead now 367 and eight wickets still standing, the wicket made no impact on proceedings.

Soon, Archie Vaughan and Jack Leach were bowling, Leach from the Cromwell Road End and Vaughan from the Sea End. They quickly found their rhythm and a constricting line and length which Sussex made no attempt to disrupt, seemingly satisfied with one or two singles an over, the occasional two or a three, a spasmodic four and their steadily rising total. It was a spectacle with which the Sussex crowd seemed perfectly happy. The Sussex chatter was endless, relaxed and buoyant, perfectly befitting the apparently relaxed, if no doubt hotly contested, competition in the middle. The nature of the cricket, the Hove ground and the warm sunshine produced a blissful scene. Occasionally the game sprang to life, but only for brief instants. Once, a powerful drive from Tom Alsop off Vaughan was brilliantly stopped by an electrifying dive from Kasey Aldridge at mid-off bringing applause before the relaxed mood re-established itself.

Once, the spinners threatened to take a more assertive hand. Vaughan pushed Haines back on his stumps and struck him on the pad. The appeal bore fruit as the umpire’s finger rose. In the next over, Alsop was caught by Rew as he tried to keep out a ball from Leach. Sussex had fallen from 298 for 2 to 300 for 4. But with a Sussex lead of 393 the two wickets made no impact on the feel of the game. A lofted drive for four from James Coles off Vaughan followed, but then the game fell back into its lazy summer rhythm. Three singles came off the next over, from Leach, three off the next, from Vaughan, then another boundary driven through the covers by John Simpson off Leach before four singles came from the next three overs. That took Sussex to 318 for 4, a lead of 411, with still no sign of any move towards a declaration. In the end, that final ball straight six, from Coles off Vaughan, took Sussex to lunch on 334 for 4, a lead of 427.

As I made my way around the ground at lunchtime, “We have bowled very steadily,” said someone I occasionally talk to who played a lot of cricket at a good club level. “We have given them very little to get after. But there has been no effort from Sussex to score. I don’t know what they are trying to achieve. The fewer overs Somerset have to face the better.” He was not the only Somerset supporter who was bemused. “Can you explain to me what is going on out there?” asked one. And yet. And yet. Sussex were clearly batting to a plan and sticking to it with considerable discipline. The one Sussex supporter I heard comment was quite content. “I think we need to bat to tea. Keep them out of it.” It was perhaps the perspective of a team that had been long in the Second Division playing a team that had finished third in the First Division in the previous season and been in the First Division longer than any other.

For the first hour or so after lunch, Sussex continued much as they had done before. In 19 overs, 74 runs were scored for the loss of one wicket. Vaughan and Leach bowled all 19 overs as Sussex pushed and turned singles to the deep field from where the fielders eased their way in to collect the ball and return it while the batters ambled through for a run. It was the sort of soporific cricket that the mind imagines watching from a deckchair on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the park. In the last ten of those overs, two fours, 27 singles and a leg bye were added to the score.

Only twice in those ten overs did the game produce a spark of life. John Simpson, who had come to the middle on the departure of Haines, drove Vaughan through the off side to the boundary in front of the marquees. A single from the next ball put James Coles on strike. He tried to sweep. The ball flew skyward, back over Rew’s head, Rew took off in pursuit and took the catch above his head. Sussex 374 for 5. Coles 39. Lead 467. Five overs later, the new batter, Fynn Hudson-Prentice drove Leach through extra cover for four, just bisecting two converging fielders. “Yeah,” said a Sussex supporter, whether in acclamation of or relief at a boundary at last was difficult to tell. And then, the batters were back to pushing and deflecting singles, although five did come from one of Vaughan’s overs. Eventually, the Sussex lead drifted past 500 resurrecting talk about a possible declaration.

There was no declaration, but out of the somnolence that had set in, the game suddenly sprang to life. Aldridge replaced Vaughan at the Cromwell Road End and Simpson pulled him just behind square to the Pavilion, by some way the shorter of the two boundaries, for six. Leach responded with two wickets in an over. Hudson-Prentice, continuing in the same vein that Simpson had just adopted, caught on the boundary by Vaughan at long on. Sussex 417 for 6. Hudson-Prentice 18. Lead 510. Then, Danny Lamb was caught behind off his fourth ball defending. Sussex 417 for 7. Lamb 0. Again, there was talk of a declaration, but again, another batter emerged from the dressing room, this time Jack Carson. The innings was now in its 122^nd over, any prospect of a Somerset victory had long gone and yet there was no reduction in effort from the Somerset team. “Somerset’s heads haven’t gone down,” commented a Sussex supporter. “No, they haven’t, and they are a good fielding side,” the response.

Despite the two wickets, with the lead past 500, Sussex launched a ten runs an over assault on the bowling. Leach and Aldridge suffered in equal measure. In eight overs there were seven sixes, five of them hit in the arc between long on and long off. One, from Carson off Leach was pulled over deep midwicket and landed on the upper seating of the Pavilion. Another, from Simpson off Leach, went over deep midwicket in the opposite direction, the longer boundary. “That hit the window of the scorer’s box,” the astonished comment of one Sussex supporter. With three fielders protecting the short Pavilion boundary, Carson drove straight and hit the Cromwell Road End sight screen. And, finally, Simpson reached his century from 114 balls off Aldridge with one of the straight sixes and immediately followed it with another which cleared the long off boundary 15 yards to my left and landed on the concourse in front of the Sharks Stand. Simpson’s century was met with a standing ovation and a sea of smiling Sussex faces. It had been one of those innings, and the ground was buzzing.

Three consecutive singles later and the ground was applauding again as Sussex reached five hundred. A fourth single off the final ball of the over brought the declaration on 501 for 7, a lead of 593, and tea. Those eight overs had been a merciless pummelling for Somerset who were entirely dependent on the whims of Simpson and the timing of his declaration. The heads still did not go down, but some of the Somerset players looked tired as they walked off. Two hundred overs in the field for the Worcestershire second innings had been followed by 131 for the Sussex second innings. In total, Somerset had spent 446 of the previous 492 overs in the field during one of the hotter starts to a season for some years.

Hove is a small cricket ground of the old type. It still retains part of the original Pavilion from 1872. There are park benches and deck chairs at the Cromwell Road End and marquees along the boundary opposite the Pavilion. It is a pleasant ground to circumnavigate and encourages a slow amble rather than the brisk walk favoured by the increasingly ubiquitous 21st century fitness experts. I managed to extend my teatime circumnavigation a dozen overs into the Somerset second innings, watching the cricket from gaps between the marquees and from behind the deckchairs and benches. There was enough action to hold the attention despite, as the afternoon wore on, the weather finally producing the traditional bitter breeze of an April Championship match. So much so that I invested in a hot chocolate to accompany me on my amble.

As is one of my traditions, I ‘took’ a wicket while I was behind one of the hospitality marquees. Sean Dickson edged Sean Hunt to Haines at fourth slip, the ball travelling, conveniently for Haines, waist high and a foot to his right. Somerset 4 for 1. Dickson 0. Target 590. It was yet another disappointing start to an innings from Dickson in his run of disappointing starts as a Championship opener since he arrived at Taunton. Vaughan, his opening partner, attempted to hook Hunt, miscued and was almost caught by the midwicket fielder over his shoulder as he chased the falling ball. Then, with Sussex having place two long legs, he hooked Hunt towards the long leg boundary. The stroke was played into the wind, and the ball seemed to hang in the air before falling into the hands of Carson. “The word will get around the circuit very quickly that Vaughan is a hooker,” said the Somerset supporter standing with me. Somerset 17 for 2. Vaughan 11. Target 576.

I continued my walk with the prospect of a heavy Somerset defeat hanging heavily in the air. Tom Lammonby brought some relief with a beautiful cover drive for four off Jeydon Seales, the bat barely stroking the ball into its race to the boundary. Tom Abell produced an equally impressive, if more emphatic, on drive off Seales. It would have been an easy two, but Abell ran like the wind and completed three as the ball flew back in. “Somerset can’t win. Abell could have dawdled two,” said one Somerset supporter nearby. “Abell doesn’t dawdle anything,” the reply. Neither were Somerset dawdling. By the time I regained my seat at the end of the 12^th over they had reached 49 for 2.

The developing partnership was not all Somerset. In one over from Hudson-Prentice, Abell edged past the slips for four and was the subject of a leg before wicket appeal causing one Sussex supporter who was about to leave to say, “Let’s watch one more over.” But the overriding impression was of glorious stroke play from the two Somerset men lifting Somerset spirits as they went. There was a cover drive for four off Seales from Abell and another off Hudson-Prentice from Lammonby. Abell leaned into a delivery from Hudson-Prentice and neatly turned it through square leg to the Pavilion boundary. “Well done, Tom,” said a nearby Somerset supporter. An on drive for two later in the over brought, “Well done Thomas.” Lammonby pressed hard for a third run from an off drive off Lamb, now on at the Sea End, and Abell glanced him for four to a Somerset shout of, “Hooray!”

It was a spirited performance, but all the time the threat of another Sussex breakthrough hung in the air. And yet, when it came, it still surprised. The left arm Hunt, bowling over the wicket, targeted the stumps with a full ball. Lammonby, trying to coax it into the leg side, was too soon through the stroke and a leading edge sent the ball back down the pitch where Hunt caught it falling to his right. Somerset 80 for 3. Lammonby 33. Target 514. It felt like a body blow. Lammonby and Abell had been playing so well, so confidently, hope was beginning to sprout that Somerset might just, just possibly, save the game. But the full jeopardy of Somerset’s situation struck home five balls later when Banton was comprehensively beaten and bowled, Hunt sprinting up the pitch in celebration, Banton’s 371 against Worcestershire now felt like a distant memory. At 80 for 4, 513 runs behind with 109 overs remaining in the match Somerset were in desperate straits.

James Rew joined Abell, probably Somerset’s two most reliable batters when they are in form, although Rew struggled as the light closed in and the floodlights came on during the final overs. Abell still did not dawdle. In successive overs he glanced Carson’s off spin to the Cromwell Road End deckchairs and clipped Hunt through square leg to the Pavilion. There was a huge unrequited appeal for caught behind off Carson. “Pad,” someone explained. Both Rew and Abell clipped boundaries through the leg side, Abell bringing up his fifty from 73 balls in the process to another shout of, “Hooray!” It was though the determined accumulation of singles which took Somerset to the close on 125 for 4. By then the partnership was worth 45, but despite the sense of rebuilding, in the light of the huge deficit and six hours more to be played, short of a partnership on the scale of that between Brett D’Oliveira and Matthew Waite at Taunton, there seemed little hope for Somerset supporters that their team would survive the final day. For Sussex supporters, new and old, free entry had been a very good deal indeed, and their team had stuck determinedly to their plan.

Close. Sussex 294 and 501 for 7 dec (T.J. Haines 141, J.A. Simpson 110*, D.P. Hughes 91, M.J. Leach 4-167). Somerset 201 and 125 for 4. Somerset need a further 469 runs to win with six second innings wickets standing.