Robinson urges his players to keep on believing (From The Argus)

Robinson urges his players to keep on believing

8:00am Monday 21st September 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(6)

Sussex coach Mark Robinson says his players have to believe they will still be playing first division cricket in the County Championship next season.

But he conceded the odds are stacked against his side after Saturday’s shattering defeat to Yorkshire at Hove.

Chasing 240 to win in 40 overs, the county produced a calamitous collapse which saw all ten wickets go down in 20 overs for 56 runs.

Former England seamer Matthew Hoggard picked up the second hat-trick of his career and the first by a Yorkshire bowler since 1998 when he dismissed Andy Hodd, Dwayne Smith and Piyush Chawla in the 20th over.

And when Jason Lewry, in what is certain to be his last game at Hove before retirement, became left-arm spinner David Wainwright’s fourth victim to complete a pair, Sussex had been dismissed for 83 – their lowest total since they were bowled out for 71 by Gloucestershire at Hove nine years ago and finished bottom of the second division.

Robinson said: “We have to be positive because there is one last chance for us to put in a performance against Notts and hope and pray that other results go our way.

“But the league table does not lie and we have to front up to the situation.

“No team is big enough to go down. We don’t willingly want to go into the second division but if we have to rebuild and regroup then that’s what we will do.”

All Sussex can do now is try to beat Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, starting on Wednesday, and hope Lancashire lose to Warwickshire at Old Trafford. But the gap between the two is a hefty 15 points which means even if Sussex picked up a maximum 22 points Lancashire would only need seven to draw level and stay up because they have won more games.

Two years after winning their third title in five seasons, the county will be reacquainting themselves with Glamorgan, Leicestershire and Derbyshire and as their stunned supporters filed out of the County Ground for the last time this season on Saturday it could not be argued that they do not deserve their fate.

Needing to win one of their two remaining home games they have lost both after two last-day batting collapses although no one could have predicted they would have done worse than the 7-69 which sent them spinning to defeat against Warwickshire last week. The county have now lost four games at Hove this season.

Robinson said: “The dressing room was a very sombre place afterwards and I can only apologise to our supporters because they have given us magnificent backing, especially in the last two games.”

If there was any crumb of comfort it was that only one side was prepared to force the pace and win the game – and it was not the side who eventually did.

Sussex took five wickets in the morning session but shortly after lunch a wild throw from Joe Gatting at mid-wicket enabled Wainwright to make his ground when he was halfway down the pitch.

He went on to add 38 with Hoggard for Yorkshire’s last wicket in eight overs and although Chris Nash and Gatting started the reply positively it soon started to unravel, notably when Rory Hamilton-Brown came back for a suicidal second run to fine leg when the ball was already in Hoggard’s hands.

Sussex had planned to push Smith further up the order but he was “mentally cooked” according to Robinson after bowling 25 overs unchanged either side of lunch. He became the second of Hoggard’s hat-trick victims with a bemused skipper Mike Yardy left stranded at the other end.

Robinson added: “Even at tea, when we were three down, we were still trying to win the game and if there is any consolation for us it is that we were positive throughout the four days.

“I don’t think Yorkshire were trying to win until the second half of the last session. But it was very hard to score freely. The ball stopped in the wicket and there was a lot of rough for the spinners.

“But there were positives. Rory and Joe batted outstandingly and we couldn’t have asked for much more from Chawla. My job now is to lift the mood of the team so that we give ourselves every chance of winning at Trent Bridge.”

Easier said than done of course and the likelihood is that at some time on Thursday, given fair weather, Sussex’s eight years in the first division will be over, the post-mortem will take place and the rebuilding can get under way.

SCORES: Yorkshire 403 & 284 (Rudolph 70, Chawla 5-112), Sussex 448 and 83 (Wainwright 4-12, Hoggard 4-29). Yorkshire (20pts) beat Sussex (7) by 156 runs.

REMAINING FIXTURES (Wednesday): Lancashire v Warwickshire, Yorkshire v Hampshire, Nottinghamshire v Sussex, Worcestershire v Durham.

ends

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(6)