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| Steven Finn is Middlesex's only bright spark as Sussex win by an innings | Steven Finn is Middlesex's only bright spark as Sussex win by an innings |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| Sympathy for English bowlers has been in short supply among Australian batsmen recently but Steven Finn's performance here after a wretched winter gave his county captain, Chris Rogers, some comfort as his Middlesex side were dismantled by Sussex's seam attack. | Sympathy for English bowlers has been in short supply among Australian batsmen recently but Steven Finn's performance here after a wretched winter gave his county captain, Chris Rogers, some comfort as his Middlesex side were dismantled by Sussex's seam attack. |
| Finn was the only player who did not deserve to be on the end of an innings defeat after taking six wickets before delaying Sussex's handsome victory with some futile slogging at the end after Middlesex lost nine second-innings wickets in 80 minutes during a spectacular morning collapse. | Finn was the only player who did not deserve to be on the end of an innings defeat after taking six wickets before delaying Sussex's handsome victory with some futile slogging at the end after Middlesex lost nine second-innings wickets in 80 minutes during a spectacular morning collapse. |
| It will take a few more performances like this before Finn is ready to be reintegrated into the England team but Rogers is encouraged by his progress. "Steve was a massive plus for us," he said. "For me he would be in the best England team but he's still only operating at 60-70% of what he is capable of. He showed a huge amount of character to come back and take six wickets.He needs to keep producing these sorts of performances, but I think he's heading in the right direction." | |
| The problem for Rogers here was that the rest of his bowlers failed to back up Finn when Sussex were establishing their 281-run lead on the third day – and collectively they bowled so slowly that they were docked two points, cutting their return for the match from three to one. By contrast, Sussex's three seamers dovetailed superbly in admittedly helpful conditions, sharing 18 wickets. | The problem for Rogers here was that the rest of his bowlers failed to back up Finn when Sussex were establishing their 281-run lead on the third day – and collectively they bowled so slowly that they were docked two points, cutting their return for the match from three to one. By contrast, Sussex's three seamers dovetailed superbly in admittedly helpful conditions, sharing 18 wickets. |
| Rogers had been named one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year before play started and for a while, as he mixed watchful defence with the occasional attacking flourish, it looked as if his arrival at Lord's for Wednesday night's launch dinner might be delayed. He put on 80 with Dawid Malan for the second wicket but then James Anyon squared him up with the fourth ball of his spell and the rest of his team-mates showed little of the gumption that Wisden had recognised in Rogers when making their choice. Like Finn, Eoin Morgan is hoping that early-season runs will earn him an England Test recall but after collecting a golden duck in the first innings he became Anyon's second victim with an indeterminate waft to the wicketkeeper. The rest went quietly, with Steve Magoffin taking the last four wickets to completefor a match return of eight for 77. | Rogers had been named one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year before play started and for a while, as he mixed watchful defence with the occasional attacking flourish, it looked as if his arrival at Lord's for Wednesday night's launch dinner might be delayed. He put on 80 with Dawid Malan for the second wicket but then James Anyon squared him up with the fourth ball of his spell and the rest of his team-mates showed little of the gumption that Wisden had recognised in Rogers when making their choice. Like Finn, Eoin Morgan is hoping that early-season runs will earn him an England Test recall but after collecting a golden duck in the first innings he became Anyon's second victim with an indeterminate waft to the wicketkeeper. The rest went quietly, with Steve Magoffin taking the last four wickets to completefor a match return of eight for 77. |
| This was an impressive performance by a Sussex side without three players – Chris Nash, Luke Wright and Chris Jordan – who would probably get into their strongest XI. Their captain, Ed Joyce, has targeted improved home form – they won only once at Hove last season – as the key their hopes of a first Championship since 2008 and on this evidence they looked as well this was pretty much a perfect start. equipped as any of their rivals. | |
| "Winning the toss gave us an advantage, but I thought we outplayed them," said Joyce. "Matt Prior's hundred made a big difference and we had the right attack for that pitch. As Durham showed last year you need to win your home games if you are going to challenge for the Championship, so this was the right start for us."Meanwhile, Jonny Bairstow's hopes of retaining his place in the England team this summer have been dealt a blow after the wicketkeeper was ruled out for up to six weeks after breaking a finger attempting to catch a delivery from Liam Plunkett in Yorkshire's three-day friendly against Northamptonshire. |