Match report day 4: Sussex v Lancs in Championship 2003 by Neil Adams

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Scorecard:

Sussex v Lancashire

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Summary for Day 4

Every spectator in the ground seemed to voice their opinion regarding the match situation before the start of play. How long would Sussex bat for? Answers varied from 10 overs through to early afternoon. As it turned out, Adams finally declared at 12.35pm with a lead of 392. Lancashire required 5.22 runs per over with 75 overs minimum remaining - Lancashire could never have been expected to chase such a huge target batting last on the wicket. The visitors survived 4 overs before lunch and due to the slow over rate in the morning session, only needed to survive 71 additional overs to attain the draw. The match turned on its head during the first hour after the lunch interval, when Billy Taylor (Bowling from the Cromwell Road End) ripped out Lancashire's top order. He captured 4 wickets in the space of 36 deliveries to reduce Lancashire to 64 for 4 with 56 overs remaining to be bowled. Lancashire's remaining batsmen desperately tried to bat time rather than score runs. For a brief time Mal Loye and Chris Schofield held firm, but after the tea interval wickets fell every few overs to set up a tense finale. With 12 minutes remaining, Hegg gloved the ball to Montgomerie fielding in close on the leg side and Sussex snatched victory

 

Bowling Performance of the Day

Glen Chapple captured 3 of the 4 wickets which Sussex lost on the fourth day - 2 smart caught and bowled and a leg before decision. Lancashire's other bowlers appeared to lack any edge as the ball became older. Lancashire's spinners were completely unable to gain the bounce and turn which Mushtaq seemed able to find. The team were quite content to watch Sussex batting for so long in the morning. At that stage it appeared that Adams might have batted on for too long

 

Batting Performance of the Day

Mal Loye tried desperately hard to steer Lancashire to a draw. Following 4 quick wickets, he batted for just over 2 hours against the hostility of Taylor and the demon spin of Mushtaq. He faced 121 balls (4 x 4) and together with Chris Schofield (90 balls for 18 runs) added 33 runs during 26 overs in the afternoon session. Warren Hegg's valiant effort to steer the tail to the draw narrowly failed with approximately 4 overs of the match to be played. Hegg faced 71 balls and struck 5 boundaries and was last out

 

Fielding Performance of the Day

Glen Chapple held two difficult caught and bowled opportunities. Tim Ambrose drove the ball back at Chapple just over head high and Chris Adams misjudges a pull shot and Chapple ran forward to take the ball just above the ground. Unfortunately, Lancashire dropped 2 more opportunities in the outfield during the late by Sussex. At one stage, Lancashire placed 8 men on the boundary edge to contain the flow of runs

 

Highlight of the Day

Not very much to cheer about on the fourth day. Mal Loye and Chris Schofield both batted sensibly, and Glen Chapple bowled well

 

Lowlights of the Day

• Suffering our first championship defeat of the season and the manner in which the team lost - 12 minutes remaining of the game
• Too many dropped catches in the outfield

 

Contentious Discussion Point of the Day

Nothing contentious - If 12 more minutes had passed by though - Chris Adams would have severely regretted batting on until 12.35pm and setting such a huge target

 

Key Notes of the Day

• Ambrose caught & bowled Chapple 44 - 268 for 4 in the 88th over - Adams 148*
• 150 Adams from 239 balls (17 x4 & 4 x 6) - 276 for 4 in the 89th over - M-Jenkins 1*
• New ball taken at the start of the 91st over - 284 for 4 from 90 overs
• 300 for 4 in the 92nd over - Adams 170* Martin-Jenkins 7*
• Martin-Jenkins lbw bowled Chapple 13 - 313 for 5 in the 97th over - Adams 172*
• Adams caught & bowled Chapple 190 - 348 for 6 in the 101st over - Prior 17*
• 350 for 6 in the 102nd over - Prior 17* Davis 2*
• Prior 18 dropped by Sutcliffe - 355 for 6 in the 103rd over - Davis 6*
• Prior 31 dropped by Loye - 370 for 6 in the 104th over - Davis 7*
• Prior caught Sutcliffe bowled Wood 35 - 383 for 7 in the 105th over - Davis 16*
• Sussex declare at 12.35pm at 383 for 7 - Lead by 391

• Lancashire require 392 to win from a minimum 75 overs - Innings starts at 12.45pm
• Lunch - 23 for 0 from 4 overs Chilton 7* Sutcliffe 9*
• Sutcliffe caught Montgomerie bowled Taylor 12 - 27 for 1 in the 9th over - Chilton 8*
• Chilton bowled Taylor 9 (Played-on) - 28 for 2 in the 11th over - Loye 0*
• 50 for 2 in the 16th over - Loye 14* Law 6*
• Law caught Adams bowled Taylor 7 - 56 for 3 in the 17th over - Loye 15*
• Hooper caught Adams bowled Taylor 1 - 64 for 4 in the 19th over - Loye 16*
• Tea - 87 for 4 from 38 overs - Loye 28* Schofield 7* - 37 remaining of game
• Loye lbw b Mushtaq 33 - 97 for 5 in the 45th over - Schofield 12*
• 100 for 5 in the 46th over - Schofield 13* Chapple 0*
• Schofield bowled Davis 18 - 109 for 6 in the 50th over
• Hegg 0 dropped by Prior - 112 for 6 in the 53rd over - Chapple 7*
• Chapple lbw bowled Mushtaq 7 - 128 for 7 in the 60th over - Hegg 16*
• Martin caught Prior bowled Mushtaq 0 - 132 for 8 in the 64th over - Hegg 20* - 5.17pm
• Wood lbw bowled Mushtaq 0 - 132 for 9 in the 66th over - Hegg 20* - 5.24pm
• Hegg caught Montgomerie bowled Mushtaq 25 - 136 all out in the 74th over Keedy 2* - 5.48pm
• Sussex 21 points beat Lancashire 7 points by 252 runs

 

Lancashire Man of the Match

A difficult choice for once based on Lancashire's first defeat and a number of topsy-turvy performances. Stuart Law scored 103 runs and held 2 first innings catches and receives the award

 

(Article: Copyright © 2004 Neil Adams http://www.cricketimages.co.uk/adams-report/intro.html)