By Big Harvey
July 20 2013

Big Harv reports on a topsy turvy day for the Middle where something just does not Look Right.

Yesterday I gratefully accepted the offer of an overnight stay with Woody, an old friend and Sussex member. I was especially impressed to discover that he is the owner of a genuine tandoor (clay oven) imported from India. I can certainly vouch for both its (and Woody's) ability to produce delicious food, better than anything I've ever managed on a barbecue, and with far less mess. A tandoor is definitely something to put on my shopping list for the future, but having seen the price of them, it'll have to be the very dim and distant future! On the way from his house to the ground we stopped at the Route 23 Diner for a leisurely breakfast, so I arrived at the ground feeling very well fed and looking forward to a scorcher of a day.

 Jordan opened the bowling from the Sea End with the score on 445/5 against a backdrop of a large, noisy contingent of schoolchildren. It's very far-sighted of Sussex to reach out to the younger generation in this way, especially when they're hosting an entertaining side like Middlesex. I suspect if Warwickshire were the visitors, they wouldn't have bothered, since the little darlings would no doubt have been put off cricket for life!

 The 450 was soon brought up with a delightful cover drive by The Iceman. Simmo's elegant and well-deserved 50 was brought up with a strong pull through mid-wicket. All was going very smoothly until The Iceman holed out to Magoffin on the long-off boundary off the bowling of Monty Panesar. 476/6.

 Simmo (59) was next to fall, caught behind by Brown off Jordan who was generating some real pace after a change of ends. 483/7.

 Then, a very half-hearted LBW appeal by Monty, led to the umpire's finger unexpectedly going up, and Ollie (0) was on his way. Monty is not exactly renowned for holding back with his appealing, so when he does cut short his appeal, presumably because he doesn't think it's out, it definitely has to go down as a big surprise when the umpire gives it! 485/8.

 Murts (9) followed, stumped off the same bowler. 496/9.

 The innings was concluded without another run added when Colly (0) was caught behind, again off Monty. All in all a slightly disappointing end to the Middlesex innings, but all the same the lead of 267 was a very commanding one. Monty finished with a fairly unlikely 5/95, while Jordan bowled far better than his figures of 1/128 suggest.

 Sussex's 2^nd innings got off to a poor start when Nash fell to a vicious lifter from Murts which was taken by Voges at slip. The batsman stood his ground for a while, with some locals suggesting it may have come off his shoulder, but he had to go. 11/1, and Sussex made it through to Lunch without further alarms.

 Lunch: 31/1.

 Before Lunch I had spotted Wheelie Bin in the crowd, notebook in hand, presumably to keep an eye on Finny, who because of his non-selection for the 2^nd Test, was drafted into the squad to replace Gurjit Sandhu. This was of course rather harsh on "Surge," who was making his championship debut, and had bowled well in the first innings. There was no sign of urgency to bring Finny into the attack, and both he and Wheelie Bin were kept waiting for a good long while. His first over was worth the wait though, as a couple of innocuous deliveries which looked as if he was lacking in fluency were followed by a much better one that produced a nick from Wells (19) to Rayner at 2^nd slip. 42/2.

 Yardy (18) followed in the very next over, caught behind by Simmo to give Colly a very well deserved and hard earned first scalp of the match.

In the over after that, Krusty Hamilton-Clown's dismal run of form continued, edging Finny to Voges at slip and departing for just 1. It was 45/4 and Sussex looked in absolute tatters, sinking without trace.

 Our nemesis from Lord's, Luke Wright ("Look Right") was at the crease, and he appeared at first to be ready to go down with all guns blazing, smashing Finny for 4 successive boundaries. He calmed down after that though, and he and Ed Joyce began to build a partnership.

 Approaching tea both were making batting look easy. Look Right posted his 50, only to be dropped by (I think) Robbo in the slips off the very next ball. The 100 partnership soon followed, but a couple of balls later Dex replaced Ollie at the Sea End and his very first ball produced an edge through to Simmo from the bat of Joyce (47). He had broken the partnership as he so often does, and there looked to be no stopping us now. 155/5.

 Tea: 172/5.

 At the Tea interval I went to look at the pitch. I have to say I was absolutely stunned at how flat it looked, and how little sign of wear there was.

 A strong, warm, dry wind got up, blowing directly down the pitch. This didn't seem to help the bowlers in any way, in fact quite the opposite. The ball was doing absolutely nothing and both batsmen were making it look easy. Look Right was soon raising his bat to the crowd celebrating his 100 after a graceful cover drive to the boundary off Colly. At 217/5 Sussex were back with at least an outside chance of saving the game.

 They continued completely untroubled in fact, apart from Brown getting one in the midriff from Finny, content to nudge, nurdle, and quietly accumulate. That's until the introduction of the Iceman, who was hit for two successive boundaries by Brown (38), who then got greedy, slashing horribly at a wide one as he went for another. Voges brilliantly held on, diving to his right, and Sussex were 6 down, still trailing by 5. 262/6.

 That wicket was completely out of the blue though, and there were no further alarms for the batsmen. Look Right, obviously not wanting to wait until the morning for his 150 launched one from Dex in the penultimate over for 6 over long-on, and later the same over posted his 150.

 Sussex finished on 288/6, a lead of 21, and still very precariously placed. We've all seen what Look Right can do though, and he's still there on 151*. The pitch is flat, has no demons, is showing no real sign of taking spin, and my gut instinct tells me that we may still have a lot of hard work to do to wrap up a victory unless we make the best possible use of the new ball that becomes available in the 2^nd over tomorrow.

 This was a hot and exhausting day for players and even spectators, but both sets of fans will agree that they got to witness a cracking day of First Class cricket today.