Sussex top five hold key (From The Argus)

Sussex top five hold key

9:40am Sunday 5th July 2009 in

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Sussex coach Mark Robinson predicts a high-scoring Friends Provident Trophy semi-final at Hove tomorrow.

And he believes the performances of his top five batsmen hold the key to the Sharks’ hopes of a second appearance in a Lord’s final in four years.

There were four totals of 300 plus in the four group games at Hove earlier this season – including one by tomorrow’s opponents in a match which was washed out at the halfway stage.

Sussex made two of the other three as well as scoring 269 against Yorkshire on the same pitch which had been used 24 hours earlier.

The Sharks won all three of their completed games at Hove and the key each time was big contributions from the top five.

Murray Goodwin made 144 and skipper Mike Yardy 59 against Surrey, Ed Joyce hit 127 and Joe Gatting 50 against Durham and Yardy 68 in the victory over Yorkshire.

In the semi-final win over Somerset at Taunton Goodwin led the way with 93 while Joyce made 74 and Yardy an unbeaten 57 to steer Sussex to their target of 286 with six wickets in hand.

With Luke Wright and Dwayne Smith available, Robinson will have more options when he sits down with Yardy today after training to pick the team.

But he insists that his front-line batsmen hold the key.

He said: “If you bat in the top five you are in a privileged position and are there win the game really.

“The guys below - the supporting cast - can chip in with their 40s and 50s but it’s up to the guys in the top five to set things up.”

Another high-scoring game on Sunday seems certain, especially with the parched Hove outfield resembling the colour of a digestive biscuit at the moment.

“The outfield is lightning quick and will inflate scores,” predicted Robinson. “On Tuesday I watched Northants’ second team get themselves in a hole but they still cruised to 260 and we won with five overs to spare.”

It won’t just be about the batsmen of course and one of the reasons why Sussex have got this far is that in every game to date someone has produced a performance, whether it’s Joyce with his two hundreds or James Kirtley, who took a career-best 6-50 against Durham in May.

“I am proud of how we have adapted to different roles in different competitions,” said Robinson.

“Different people have put their hands up at different times. We saw it in this competition in the quarter-final at Taunton when Rory Hamilton-Brown’s cameo at the end got us over the line.

“That can make a huge difference but we also have to remember that Gloucestershire are a dangerous side.

“They have big players like Craig Spearman, Hamish Marshall, Alex Gidman and Jon Lewis who could win the game by themselves.

“I think whoever performs under pressure will win and we will be working hard to make sure that’s us.”