Yorks bowlers impress as Sussex struggle on day one
Will Sutherland (left) took two wickets in an over as Sussex slipped to 150-9
- Published
Rothesay County Championship Division One, North Marine Road, Scarborough (day one)
Sussex 210-9: Coles 47, Alsop 40, Lamb 40*; White 3-21
Yorkshire: Yet to bat
Yorkshire (3 pts), Sussex (0 pts)
Yorkshire enjoyed a productive opening day of their key County Championship match with Sussex at Scarborough, on a day lit up by a stunning James Wharton catch in the deep.
Sussex, inserted on a green-tinged pitch, were limited to 210-9 from 96 overs. James Coles top scored for them with 47 off 54 balls.
New-ball seamer Jack White impressed with 3-21 from 17 overs, with the first of his wickets coming courtesy of what was labelled in some quarters as one of the all-time great catches by Wharton running back towards deep square-leg.
The visitors were 150-9, but were boosted late on by an impressively watchful last wicket partnership of 60 unbroken between Danny Lamb and Gurinder Sandhu, Lamb finishing on 40 and Australian Sandhu 24.
Yorkshire came into this fixture second-bottom after 10 of 14 matches. They were seven points away from eighth-placed Durham, with Sussex only 21 ahead of the White Rose in fifth.
These two counties were promoted from Division Two last summer. Yorkshire beat Sussex here last August.
In fact, Sussex have never won a first-class match at North Marine Road. This is their 11th attempt. If Yorkshire's start is anything to go by, that run may extend.
Quite where Wharton's catch stands on the list of all-time great grabs is difficult to say with certainty.
What can be said, however, is that it was a truly outstanding catch. You will struggle to see better at any county venue this season.
Tom Haines looked to whip White over the leg-side but skied a chance off a top-edge. Wharton, positioned at a short-midwicket, raced back towards deep square-leg and took the catch mid-air having dived full length.
That left Sussex at 19-1 in the ninth over and from there, Yorkshire took wickets at regular intervals with Sussex reaching lunch at 92-3 in the 29th over.
Australian left-hander Daniel Hughes was bowled by a beauty from White which angled in from around the wicket, straightened and hit the top of off-stump to leave them 26-2.
Coles and Tom Alsop steadied the ship, the former actually counter-attacking, including a six over long-on against the off-spin of Yorkshire's stand-in captain Dom Bess, with regular skipper with Jonny Bairstow on paternity leave, but Coles fell just before lunch when caught behind against George Hill.
Yorkshire's bowlers were very miserly as Sussex only scored 57 runs in an afternoon session which saw three more wickets fall to leave them 149-6.
White got wicket number four when he had Danial Ibrahim caught at first slip pushing forwards, before visiting captain John Simpson feathered behind a drive at Matt Milnes, leaving Sussex at 113-5 in the 44th over.
Alsop, twice a fifty-maker in last year's clash, was then the second Sussex batter to fall in the forties, the left hander bowled through the gate for exactly 40 by one angled in from Revis with 129 on the board.
More damage was done shortly after tea as Sussex lost three wickets for the addition of one run in eight balls, slipping to 150-9.
Two of them went to Will Sutherland's seam in the 66th over - Fynn Hudson-Prentice for 23 and Jack Carson for a duck. Henry Crocombe also fell without scoring in the next over to Hill, all caught in the slips.
But Lamb and Sandhu's resistance for almost 30 overs took the score past 200 and leaves Yorkshire with work to do before they can begin their reply on day two.
ECB Reporters' Network supported by Rothesay.
- Published31 January
