LV= Insurance County Championship 2022 Round 1 Day 4 : April 10th - Latest News, Scores and Match Reports

Here is all the latest news, scores and match report updates from the LV= Insurance County Championship 2022 Round 1 Day 4: April 10^th

Sunday April 10^th

 

 

Division One

Essex vs Kent, The Cloud Country Ground

Dan Lawrence, having quickly established himself with the bat in the England middle-order, made a case to be taken seriously as a bowler with career-best figures as Essex and Kent played out the tamest of draws at Chelmsford.

Not only did the occasional off-spinner record figures of 3-98, but Lawrence’s 24-and-a-half-over stint was more than double anything he had ever been asked to produce in an innings. At the other end, Matt Critchley plugged away for a marathon spell of 46 overs, taking 4-114 on his Essex debut.

Even Sir Alastair Cook turned his arm over as Kent batted on and on for 187 overs in their first innings to eventually eclipse Essex’s total of 514 on the flattest of flat wickets. It was not until the cusp of tea on the fourth day that Kent lost their ninth and final wicket – Joe Denly being unable to bat because of a hamstring injury – to finish 67 runs in front.

The captains shook hands at 4.50 pm with Essex 68-1 after a game of 1.163 runs, five individual centuries, but only 20 wickets. Earlier, Jordan Cox had finally departed for 129 at the end of a seven-hour vigil, while Matt Milnes and Jackson Bird became the eighth and ninth players to pass fifty in the match.

The tone for the day was set from the start when Essex’s Australian debutant Mark Steketee, who had leaked 96 runs from his first 25 overs in English cricket, bowled a four-over opening burst of more accurate line and length without conceding any further runs.

Essex rotated the bowling to little effect, though with Critchley and Lawrence rattling through the overs in tandem, they took advantage to work on their over-rate, avoiding any possible sanction by reducing it from minus two at the beginning of the day to plus two by the end.

Cox had batted brightly in the early stages of his innings but shrank into his shell as Kent’s batting adopted a no-risk policy. He had added just 29 runs to his overnight score in more than two hours when he popped up a dolly to short mid-on off Lawrence.

Ironically, given Lawrence bowling’s style, the wicket came soon after Essex had taken the second new-ball.

Critchley added his third wicket when Nathan Gilchrist chose to leave a ball rather theatrically and was suitably embarrassed to turn and see his off-stump pinned back.

Milnes, having reached his half-century, launched a six over Critchley’s head. But two balls later he had a rush of blood and picked out substitute Luc Benkenstein on the midwicket boundary.

Bird recorded the fastest fifty of the match having faced just 45 balls when he hit a second six back over Critchley’s head. He had had a reprieve of sorts just before when Cook senior’s first ball induced a thick edge that would have been meat and drink to third slip if his captain had given him one.

Essex batted for 22 overs in their second innings for the loss of Nick Browne, one of the first-innings centurions, who edged Gilchrist to a diving slip for nine

Essex captain Tom Westley said: “It’s not been the normal Chelmsford wicket although we had a similar wicket this time last year against Worcestershire. It’s a bit out of our control.

“It was pretty dead and the game was killed after day two with the amount of runs scored. But to start the campaign with 12 points is positive and the way the bowlers went and kept going – and obviously three centurions – is all positive.

“I think we have got all bases covered. I think this is one of the strongest squads that I have been a part of and when Harmy (Simon Harmer) joins us, we’ve got who I think the best spinner in the world, and a world-class performer. So that is only going to make us even stronger.”

 On Dan Lawrence’s three-wicket haul, Westley said: “If you speak to him he’ll tell you he’s an international all-rounder now with a Test bowling average of about 30. It’s something he’s worked really hard on and he’s got attributes as a spinner. We’ve obviously been blessed with Harmy for a number of years, so the likes of Dan probably hasn’t got to bowl as much as he likes but he could be a very good offspinner. He’s picked up a three-fer today, but there are times he’s bowled a lot better than that and not got the wickets. I think if he keeps working at it, which he wants to, then there’s no reason why he can’t get as many first-class wickets as he’d like.

“He wants to bowl, which is so good. He wants to be a part of the game in every facet of the game in the field. He’s actually one who comes up to me, ‘Can I bowl, let me on, get me on, get spin on’. Tendo had it with him, too, and so I’m sure does Joe Root! But they are the sort of people you want in your team, you want people to put their hand up.”

Kent head coach Matt Walker said: “I thought we were outstanding with the bat – two hundreds in the camp and four fifties. There were some big partnerships. There was some patience shown and understanding of what that wicket was doing, which wasn’t a lot, but you had to play a certain way to be successful on it and I thought everyone applied themselves really well. To bat with that confidence was a really good sign for the year. If you start as a batsman with runs behind you it gives you confidence to go forward for the next few games. But it was very difficult to win the game when the other side has put 500 on the board.

 “Coxy was nursing a bit of a side strain in the back-end of the innings and couldn’t really put his foot down. Perhaps we could have put our foot down on the accelerator a little bit more and given them a sticky half-and-a-half session or so, but it wasn’t to be and it wasn’t necessarily an easy wicket to be able to do that. But we come away with 12 points against a good side like Essex and we move on. I think Essex would admit it was going to be tricky to get a result out of that wicket, not that it was a bad wicket, it was a good wicket, just not enough in it for the seamers.”

Northamptonshire vs Gloucestershire, The County Ground, Northampton

RyanHiggins missed a caught and bowled in the final over as a thrilling LV=Insurance clash between Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire ended in a draw.

Higgins, who’d earlier made 139 as Gloucestershire set the hosts 299 to win, then struck in successive balls to remove first Lewis McManus and then Gareth Berg as the nail-biting chase came down to the final over.

Prior to his double strike Gloucestershire had six fielders on the boundary as they attempted to defend  in the wake of an onslaught led by Rob Keogh’s 74 and Josh Cobb’s 36, but they finished with five slips in a late quest for victory.

However, Higgins (3-47) spilt a drive by Tom Taylor with four balls left and Northamptonshire hung on to deny the visitors on their return to Division One for the first time since 2005.

Northamptonshire must also wait for their first win at this level since 2004, despite Saif Zaib’s 65 and Keogh’s heroics for the second time in the match having left them needing a run a ball 66 ahead of the breathless finish.

Earlier, Ben Sanderson took three wickets including that of Higgins, returning 5-66 to set up the thrilling run chase.

Gloucestershire began on 326-6 with centurion Ryan Higgins still at the crease, but perhaps conscious they would be a bowler light due to Nassem Shah’s shoulder injury, they showed precious little sign of wanting to press on towards a declaration.

Higgins struck one early boundary but was otherwise becalmed by Sanderson who trapped the all-rounder lbw for 139, before having Taylor caught behind.

Zafar Gohar struck a glorious on-drive to go to 50, but Nathan Buck pinned him in front and Sanderson had Shah caught in the deep to complete his fifer.

Northamptonshire skipper Ricardo Vasconcelos got the chase for 299 off to a flyer with a couple of glorious drives and it wasn’t long before Gloucestershire  turned to Gohar in search of inspiration. Bowling into the rough outside left-hander Emilio Gay’s off-stump, Gohar unsettled the academy graduate.

Taylor then struck on the stroke of lunch finding the edge of Vasconcelos’s bat to give James Bracey his sixth catch of the game.

On the resumption, Gohar and Taylor cranked up the pressure with 36 dot balls, Gay top-edging an attempted sweep off the spinner just beyond the clutches of a fielder in a bid to break the shackles.

Pressure told when Gay nicked one through to give Bracey, while Curran took 22 balls to get of the mark, making a skittish 18 before Gohar trapped him lbw.

Gloucestershire though couldn’t seize the moment, Keogh’s presence bringing a new calmness to Zaib as the pair regrouped before unfurling a string of boundaries immediately after tea which brought 40 runs in six overs as they began to sense an unlikely win.

An eighth four took Zaib to a seventh first-class 50, but Miles Hammond interrupted the carnage somehow clinging onto a skier to end the all-rounder’s innings on 65

Keogh kept up the charge hoisting Gohar over square leg for six to reach a second 50 of the match before the spinner gave him a life on 57 failing to hold on to a sharp caught and bowled opportunity.

The reprieve appeared decisive as he and Josh Cobb rattled up a 50-stand, but with victory in sight Gohar got Keogh to play too soon and chip a catch to mid-off.

Cobb assumed the mantle, clubbing Gohar over long-on, only to perish trying to repeat the shot before the dramatic finale unfolded.

Northamptonshire head coach John Sadler said:" It was entertaining, nerve-wracking. It had a bit of everything didn't it. What a brilliant advert for the county game to go to the last over on day. four

"We had a discussion at tea. We had a real positive talk with a real team buy in and went out to try and win the game with the bat.

"Half an hour before the end I thought we had the game just about won, but this game can change very quickly. We got in front off the game, but then lost a wicket and once we lost those two in two balls with Cobb and Berg it was time to shut up shop.

"We can sleep easy. We planned well and played some brilliant cricket in a fabulous game."

 

Warwickshire vs Surrey, Edgbaston

Weather interference and an excellent pitch for batting combined to sentence the LV=Insurance County Championship between champions Warwickshire and Surrey to a draw at Edgbaston. 

A mouth-watering opening-round clash between two sides with serious title aspirations ended in stalemate with Surrey on 43 without loss in their second innings after Warwickshire piled up 531 in their first. 

On a pitch offering the bowlers nothing, Bears wicketkeeper Michael Burgess hit a career-best 178 (221 balls, 20 fours, eight sixes) - his fourth first class century. He enjoyed resolute support from the tail, notably number 11 Olly Hannon-Dalby with whom he added 122 for the tenth wicket. Hannon-Dalby made an unbeaten 11 (89 balls) having got off the mark from his 67th ball faced. 

Warwickshire took advantage of the advantageous batting conditions which, along with the loss of 47 overs in the match to rain and bad light, killed off any hopes of a positive result.  

Then home side resumed on the final morning on 293 for seven and soon raised the third batting point in unusual fashion when Craig Miles headed a short ball from Jordan Clark over the slips for four. 

Surrey's bowlers persevered but the pitch showed no sign of deterioration and Burgess added 55 with Miles (32, 60 balls) and 54 with Henry Brookes (29, 65 balls). Miles and Brookes both perished to slick slip catches by Ollie Pope, off Reece Topley and Ryan Patel respectively, which  set the scene for a bizarre passage of play in which Burgess and Hannon-Dalby stretched the innings by another 134 minutes.  

When Hannon-Dalby went in, Burgess was on 69. Twenty overs later, the number 11 was still there and still to score when Burgess reached his ton. It was one of those sessions totally inexplicable to anyone who is not familiar with cricket...and pretty inexplicable to many who are.  

With the game long dead, batsmen turning down runs and weary bowlers plodding in, attention turned to numerical quirks which could not possibly affect the match result, like would the 50 partnership be raised with Burgess having scored all 50? (It was). 

Surrey plugged away nobly, but Burgess plundered a weary attack until lifting Will Jacks to deep mid-wicket. The last two hours had been whimsical but Warwickshire's 531 was a seriously good recovery from 41 for four. 

The 48-minute, post-tea session in which Surrey began their second innings is unlikely to feature in any future publications which chronicle the glorious history of cricket. 

Warwickshire first team captain Will Rhodes, said: 

"It was a magnificent partnership between Burge and Olly. Huge credit goes to Olly for all the work he had put in on his batting in the winter, as have all the bowlers with their batting. Milo and Brookes batted really well too and it's for exactly situations like that, to get bonus points and get the team safe and to help people to milestones. Fair play to those guys, they are in the team to bowl, but also to help guide us to some big totals when we need them to. 

"Burge batted brilliantly for his career best. I'm really pleased for him. He works really hard on his game and is really getting his rewards. 

"Overall, it was a solid start for us. There were plenty of positives but a few things for us to reflect on so it is good now for us to have a week without a game so we can work on those before we come back against a very good Essex team." 

 

Surrey head coach Gareth Batty said:                                                                      

"I asked the lads to start the season on the front foot and I thought they did that quite magnificently with the bat and with the ball. We were 116 for 0 with the bat and then had them 41 for four so I am pretty happy with those starts, we just need to extend them. 

"In pre-season we saw that the hard work that we saw the boys put in in winter nets was transferring outside relatively quickly which is good. We just need to keep building from that performance because there were some very good things in it. We just keep trying to be a fraction better next time. 

"The pitch got slower as the game on and became turgid at times which is why the game panned out the way it did. But I am super happy with the way we played with bat and ball. Yes, we can be better, we asked the players to start on the front foot and they certainly did." 

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Division Two

Glamorgan vs Durham, Sophia Gardens

Despite a flurry of wickets in the morning session of the final day the LV=Insurance County Championship match between Glamorgan and Durham in Cardiff finished in a draw after half centuries from Kiran Carlson and Chris Cooke took the home side to safety.

The day started with seven Durham wickets falling for 32 runs as Andrew Salter claimed career best figures. Durham had a first innings lead of 149 with Alex Lees finishing undefeated on 182.

Four early Glamorgan wickets gave Durham some hope of claiming victory but the stand between Cooke and Carlson took the home side to safety with the teams shaking hands with 16 overs un-bowled.

Durham will be left ruing the bad weather that took so much time out of this game on the first two days as they were the team best placed to push for a positive result.

Durham resumed their first innings 114 runs in front with seven wickets in hand. In a madcap first hour they went from 351 for three to 383 all out. The destroyer in chief was Salter who finished seven for 45, his first five wicket haul in the format, as the Durham middle and lower order attempted to press home their advantage with quick runs.

Salter dismissed David Bedingham in the second over of the day, well stumped by Chris Cooke with a ball that appeared to swing away from the batter. What followed was a succession of Durham players giving away their wickets with attempted big shots.

As his side collapsed around him Alex Lees stood firm, carrying his bat for the second time in his career on his way to his highest first-class score for Durham. While a quick conclusion of the Durham innings may not have been their plan as they started out the final day of this match it did give them more time to claim the 10 Glamorgan wickets they needed for victory.

In the 14 overs they bowled before lunch Durham claimed three Glamorgan wickets with the home side still trailing by 116 at the break. It could have been four wickets before the interval but Paul Coughlin put down a relatively simple chance at third slip that would have dismissed Colin Ingram without scoring.

While the morning session was hectic, things settled down after lunch. Durham had Glamorgan 66 for four when Ben Raine had Ingram bowled but a partnership of 90 between Carlson and Cooke took Glamorgan into the lead.

It was a breakthrough year for Carlson in 2021 with the Welsh batter scoring 928 first-class runs at an average of 48.84 and he was playing exceptionally before edging one through to the wicket-keeper on 61 off the bowling of Matty Potts. Glamorgan will be hoping for more eye-catching innings like this one in 2022.

Cooke made 59 in the first innings and was 85 not out in the second, those runs combined with the 205 not out he made in the last match of the 2021 season it is an impressing run of scores for the Glamorgan wicket-keeper.

Durham take 15 points away from this match while Glamorgan claim 11.

Alex Lees, Durham CCC said - I think my main focus is to play for Durham now, we’ve got six games in a row to follow, seven in seven weeks. Delighted with my start personally, but my job is to get my head down for Durham and hopefully show some good form in this period.

I absolutely loved [playing for England]. The environment and the experience was amazing. We were disappointed not to get the win, which was something we were desperate to gain, but from a personal point of view it is a childhood dream to represent your country. I was lucky enough to have my family come out to support, my kids saw me play, it was amazing on all fronts.

 

Andrew Salter, Glamorgan CCC said - I think the way the boys played for the last half of the day was really good. It was a shame we lost those early wickets, the way the guys regrouped was really promising.

 Definitely didn’t expect [to take seven wickets]. It is just a mad game really isn’t it. I can go either way, I have been on the other end of things where they come out and played some shots and they end up in the stands. It was pleasing to see them go straight up in the air and get a couple of wickets. But it would be remiss of me not to mention the hard work the boys put in before that. We didn’t quite get the rewards yesterday.

 On a personal level it was really nice to take some wickets, it is feeling nice out of the hand so it is nice to pick up the reward, but I suppose I’ve bowled longer and better spells than that and not picked up the rewards.

 

Leicestershire vs Worcestershire, Uptonsteel County Ground

A century of heroic defiance by Leicestershire opener Hassan Azad and a last-wicket stand spanning an hour and 38 minutes denied Worcestershire victory after a tense finish to their LV= County Championship match at the Uptonsteel County Ground.

The 28-year-old left-hander batted throughout the final day for 104 not out as Leicestershire, who had been set 370 to win after Worcestershire declared on their overnight score, finished on 218 for nine after last man Beuran Hendricks kept out 60 deliveries at the other end.

Worcestershire had looked odds-on to open their Division Two season with a win after reducing their hosts to 82 for five at lunch 122 for seven midway through the afternoon session after teenage spin bowler Josh Baker produced a career-best four for 51.

To compound their frustration, they missed a chance to remove Azad on 75 at 153 for eight when wicketkeeper Ben Cox spilled a legside catch off seamer Ed Barnard. Azad’s vigil had lasted six hours and 17 minutes when the last ball was bowled.

Ed Pollock’s debut century on Saturday had given Worcestershire the opportunity to set the terms for the last day and after 18-year-old orthodox left-armer Baker took three wickets in the space of 18 balls to send them to lunch on 82 for five, Leicestershire faced a long battle to save the game that for most of the last two sessions looked likely to prove too much.

Leicestershire suffered a first setback only four overs into their second innings when Charlie Morris found enough movement to have opener Sam Evans caught behind. George Rhodes avoided a pair but was undone by a ball from Dillon Pennington that flew to point off a high part of the bat, Ed Barnard taking a fine low catch.

Baker did not find too much turn but bowled with impressive control and struck in consecutive overs before lunch. He removed Colin Ackermann via another fine catch by Barnard, this time at slip, albeit off a loose shot by the Leicestershire skipper, then trapped Lewis Hill leg before and bowled Harry Swindells off an inside edge.

Ben Mike stayed with Azad for a dozen overs after lunch but was then drawn into playing a ball from Pennington that left him enough to take the edge, Pollock taking a straightforward catch at first slip.

Baker picked up a fourth victim in the shape of Ed Barnes when he pushed one through to have the Leicestershire man leg before on the back pad.

Azad at last found a steady ally in left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson and it was beginning to look as though the second new ball might by key as the pair dug in for almost an hour.

Then, in perhaps an inspired bowling change, Worcestershire skipper Brett D’Oliveira turned for the first time in the match to the leg breaks of Azhar Ali and was immediately rewarded as the Pakistan star tempted Parkinson into a drive for four and had him fishing enough at the next ball to be caught behind.

Leicestershire hoped the Azad drop would prove unimportant after Pennington’s appeal for leg before against Chris Wright was upheld, leaving the home side nine down for 173 with more than 25 overs still to play.

Yet Hendricks defied all attempts to get him out, with an assuredness that only grew as the overs ticked by.

Leicestershire centurion Hassan Azad said:

“After struggling with some technical stuff last year I worked hard during the winter so it is definitely very special to see that pay off and I will remember this innings for a long time.

“In a situation like that, I try to break the day down by time but also to go through the same routines for every ball, to take yourself out of the situation in the game and just stay in the moment, just think about the ball that is coming next.

“It can get quite tiring but we have worked very hard on fitness to be able to bat for long periods.  The biggest challenge is to not let it affect you when another wicket falls at the other end and make sure you are switched on for the next ball.  At the end, I had complete confidence in Beuran. His demeanour relaxed me completely.

“Even though we didn’t win, it will give the players a lot of confidence to have rescued the game from the position we were in.”

Worcestershire head coach Alex Gidman said:

“I’m just gutted for the players. We worked really hard and played some really good cricket over the four days and I’m pleased with everything we did, but we just couldn’t quite get over the line at the end.

“I felt we played some outstanding cricket, first to have got ourselves out of a little hole at 40 for four with some wonderful batting in the first innings and then there with some great seam bowling to get those first 10 wickets.

“We had to do something very special to get ourselves in a position to win the game but we did that with some batting on the third evening that was very good to watch.

“It was a fantastic cricket wicket but completely understandably it got slower and harder as the game went on and we tried pretty much everything to finish the job, but massive credit to Azad - to bat for 300-odd balls on the last day to save the game was very special.”

Middlesex vs Derbyshire, Lord’s

Tom Helm’s late flurry of wickets was not enough to force a Middlesex victory as Derbyshire held on to draw their LV= Insurance County Championship opener.

Helm struck three times in 19 balls to give the Seaxes the upper hand after half-centuries by Shan Masood (62) and Wayne Madsen (54) had threatened to secure the visitors’ first Lord’s success in 20 years.

Pursuing a target of 356 from 88 overs, Derbyshire reached 197 for two just after tea – but Helm’s fiery spell forced them to abandon hopes of victory.

Middlesex’s bowlers – minus skipper Tim Murtagh, who pulled up injured early on in the chase – pressed hard, but were unable to make further inroads as Leus du Plooy and Anuj Dal dug in to steer their side to safety at 255 for five.

The home side extended their second innings by just six overs in the morning, with not-out batters Robbie White (81) and Max Holden (82) both falling to Sam Conners in pursuit of quick runs.

Another 57 were added, largely thanks to some clean striking by John Simpson (23 not out) and Toby Roland-Jones (17no) before Murtagh waved them in at 258 for five.

However, Murtagh himself was soon back in the pavilion after pulling up in the ninth over and Masood settled into the groove, dominating his partnership of 81 with Billy Godleman as Middlesex searched in vain for a breakthrough.

That finally arrived in the third over after lunch as Ethan Bamber – having already beaten the bat several times – persuaded Masood to flick on the leg side and Simpson took a diving catch.

Godleman briefly took up the baton with a couple of boundaries off Bamber, but the skipper (38) then attempted to cut the first ball of Roland-Jones’ second spell and was caught in the slips.

After a slow start, Madsen began to go for his shots, employing the reverse sweep to good effect against spinner Josh de Caires and reaching his half-century just after tea with a crisp straight drive for four off Roland-Jones.

But Helm raised Middlesex’s hopes with a trio of wickets, including those of Madsen who was leg before and Brooke Guest (43), smartly taken by Stephen Eskinazi at first slip after the pair had shared a stand of 91.

That left Derbyshire to survive 27 more overs and – although Dal got away with a loose shot that narrowly eluded Helm at deep square leg – handshakes were exchanged with five of those still unbowled.

Middlesex coach RICHARD JOHNSON said: (reflecting on Tim Murtagh’s injury):

“He’s sore, he pulled a hamstring and we’re not sure yet to what extent. Obviously losing 900 first-class wickets today didn’t help.

“But what an amazing effort by the other guys out there – they pulled up the slack and performed admirably through the whole day.

“That’s the Tom Helm I knew a long time ago when he came through and hopefully we’ll see him really push on. What I saw today was international-class bowling.

“He hit great areas, swung it – it was quality all the way through. If he does that week in, week out, England have to come calling for him because he’s up there with the best on that.”

 

Derbyshire coach MICKEY ARTHUR said:

“It was quite nicely set up at teatime, then bang, bang. If we had carried on, we seriously would have had a go at it, which would have made for an entertaining finish.

“Once we lost those wickets, we had to battle out the draw. I’m so proud of the character shown in that dressing room – we lost a man really early in the piece, but showed a lot of resilience and discipline in our cricket.

“You’ve got to become hard to beat before you become a winning team and we certainly showed that today.

“Shan Masood is everything I knew he would be, he’s gone to another level again and that was some sublime batting from him over the course of the game.”

 

Sussex Nottinghamshire, The 1st Central County Ground

Brett Hutton and Liam Patterson-White both claimed three wickets as Nottinghamshire wore down Sussex’s final-day resistance to claim a ten-wicket win in their LV County Championship opener at Hove.

Sussex, for whom all-rounder Dan Ibrahim was unable to bat in their second innings because of a shoulder injury sustained earlier in the match, were bowled out for 172 shortly after tea and the Division Two title favourites scored the 14 runs they needed in 2.1 overs.

It was an outstanding effort by the Nottinghamshire attack on a pitch offering very little lateral movement and only slow turn. In addition, they were without Luke Fletcher, their most experienced seam bowler, on the final day as he nursed a hamstring injury. It was some recovery after they had been 52 for four replying to Sussex's 375 on the second day. 

On such a tough surface the Sussex batsmen had to be prised out but Notts' skipper Steven Mullaney, whose career-best 192 helped set up their victory, employed imaginative fields, often posting six men on the leg side to try and force mistakes.

Sussex began on 29 for one, still 130 behind, but for nearly an hour Ali Orr and nightwatchman Jamie Atkins looked relatively untroubled until Atkins, who had faced 53 balls, couldn’t resist when Hutton dropped one short and holed out to long leg.

Tom Alsop played a disappointing shot, caught low down by wicketkeeper Tom Moores, trying to guide a ball from Lyndon James well outside off stump down to third man but Orr and Oli Carter dug in for 14 overs before Nottinghamshire cut through Sussex’s middle order in a decisive hour after lunch.

Carter was lbw to Hutton but could consider himself unlucky to be dismissed by a ball that kept low. Orr (45) batted for three hours, 40 minutes and it took a superb reflex catch at short leg by Ben Slater to end his spirited resistance when Hutton found some extra bounce.

Slow left-armer Patterson-White got one to turn out of the rough and Tom Clark, who made his maiden hundred in the first innings, was caught at slip for 26. Delray Rawlins played on to James trying to pull and when Patterson-White snared Archie Lenham lbw only half-forward, Sussex had lost five wickets for 59 in 12.5 overs.

They still needed four runs to make Nottinghamshire bat again when Steve Finn and Henry Crocombe came together but the last-wicket pair hung on for 13 overs either side of tea until Patterson-White surprised Crocombe with a quicker ball that trapped him in front. The left-arm spinner finished with career-best match figures of eight for 138 from 76.1 overs.

Nottinghamshire openers Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater needed 13 balls to knock off the runs and they took 23 points and Sussex 5.

Peter Moores (Nottinghamshire coach) said, "To be a bowler down and bowl a side out on such a flat pitch on the last day was a really good effort. I thought Brett Hutton led the attack really well without Luke Fletcher and we had a good tactical plan to take wickets once the new ball had lost its impact, using the short ball sensibly to good fields. Lyndon James and Joey Evison followed suit, which created pressure. Towards the end of the second day we said we would have to win the remaining sessions to win the game and that’s what we did, the skipper [Steven Mullaney] and Joey batted really well and we scored our runs at a good rate to create time for us to bowl them out. We put pressure on a young Sussex side, a couple of things went our way and the result was a very good four-day win."

Ian Salisbury (Sussex coach) said: "We didn’t win so it didn’t go according to plan, but we’ve taken the favourites for this division to the last session on the final day and that’s with a few things going against us, like Dan Ibrahim getting injured. We just couldn’t afford to drop a player like Steven Mullaney on as good a wicket as this twice. But there were positives. Tom Clark got a hundred and I’m so pleased for him. He did a lot of work over the winter with [batting coach] Grant Flower and you saw a different cricketer compared to last year. Chet Pujara is here and Mohammad Rizwan arrives on Monday so both will play in the next game against Derbyshire."

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