By Grockle
July 19 2002
Did we bat like "planks"? Well it might have seemed like it on Teletext but it wasn't quite as simple as that. Matt Bulbeck and some others were a little less "wooden". Not a great day though
SUSSEX CC1 @ TAUNTON JULY 19 2002
DAY ONE |
DAY TWO |
DAY THREE |
DAY FOUR |
The start of the state school holidays and the sun comes out. Somerset win the toss and decide to bat - bit surprising on a new, slightly green wicket./ Then again with our bowling problems it's probably better to know what you need to do before you have to do it. It's warm with a bit of breeze and it should be a big run game.....again.
We go in with the same side as the quarter final except that Wood takes the Trescothick berth and Peter Trego returns from injury to help out in the bowling attack...no place for Paul Jarvis then. There's no Adams for Sussex, Jason Lewry is in for him. Wood and Cox open but when I got there, Cox was already back in the pavilion for 27 and we're 51 for 1. Is this pitch doing something? Wood is back by the time we get to 82, caught behind, Bowler comes in at number 4 and probably didn't enjoy watching Burns being set up for the hook and taking the bait only 12 runs later. When they stick a bloke on the boundary and give you the right ball Mike....don't hit it (or make sure it doesn't stay on the field of play)! Peter B makes less of a hash of it, he simply starts giving slip practice by dobbing the ball to the slips and guess what - they catch it. 94 for 4 and it must be a minefield out there!
The hundred arrives in the 28th with Blackwell and Parsons looking a bit more stable. Blackwell looks particularly at home - well until Lewry completely foxes him with a yorker - he leaves, it hits and we go into lunch at 106 for 5. Will we keep gifting them the odd wicket? The fact of the matter is that although there are no real starts in the Sussex bowling line-up, they all keep their line and bowl straight. Either we hit the ball or they hit the wickets and that's basically it! It doesn't apply in Rob Turner's case, he's LBW to one that looks a bit high to him and me 138 for 6 don't look wonderful!
Keith Dutch partners Parsons to 150 in the 38th but Lewry makes sure there are no more heroics from that area of the batting when he bowls KP on 153. Peter Trego returns to the field for the first time in a while and showed he's actually no slouch with the bat. Dutchy and him bring up the 200 in the 47th and reach a 50 partnership at 206 with a Trego straight boundary. Sussex bring on the spinners and Mr T tries to hit them out of the attack, misjudges the spin and loses his stumps just when he looked in and set 206 for 8. Once again a promising partnership looks set then falls apart as Dutch also misjudges one and pops the ball up to be caught, he walks off almost holding his head in his hands. 207 for 9 and it doesn't look like a particularly defendable target to me!
Enter Matthew Bulbeck and Steffan Jones. Jonah practices his legside snick quite a lot and keeps up his end while Bully deposits two balls into the River stand and the river itself. It's going to be messy but viscious! Up comes the 250 in the 65th with Steff still in single figures. The 50 partnership arrives off a boundary overthrow in the 66th and Bulbeck goes to an excellent fighting 50 in the 68th (65 balls, 2 sixes and 6 fours). Good stuff which ends at 270 when Jones finally snicks one to the slips. It's a hell of a lot better than just over 200! It's tea and we've got something to bowl at.
At 6:00 on the first day with 19 overs to go it's 74 for 1 off 18 overs. Burns had Murray Goodwin caught behind for 42 at 60 but it could be a long day in the field tomorrow. Some people said that the ball was moving around and Blackwell and possibly Parsons got beauts but we did gift them about three wickets around the lunch interval. We may regret it by the middle of the third day - hope not.