Luke Wright gave Sussex a welcome
boost on the day the county
were on the end of a deflating defeat
in the FP Trophy.
Wright made 120 for England Lions on
the first day of the tour match against
New Zealand at the Rose Bowl from No. 6
- one position higher than he bats for Sussex.
The 23-year-old all-rounder came in
after Matt Prior had been dismissed for ten
and escaped on 28 when he was dropped at
mid-wicket.
But he prospered to hit 16 fours and two
sixes from 131 balls faced, adding 77 for the ninth wicket with Matthew
Hoggard.
Wright has been desperate
for the opportunity to prove
there is more to his game than
power-hitting in one-day
cricket and made a big step forward
in that regard with a
career-best 155 against MCC
last month from his new slot at
No. 7 for Sussex.
It is still long odds that his
innings will tempt England
coach Peter Moores to bring
him into the squad for next
week's first Test.
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But Wright's stock has risen
considerably in the last 48
hours with this performance
and rejecting a six-figure
approach from the Indian Premier
League on Wednesday.
He said: "The big thing for
me this year is to prove I can
score runs in this form of the
game as well and it went well
for me yesterday.
"I was just trying to be positive.
We were eight wickets
down when Hoggy came in and
luckily there were a few balls
in my arc so I had a little swing,
it was my day."
Wright's performance will
have cheered up Sussex coach
Mark Robinson and skipper
Chris Adams whose side will
have to beat Kent at Canterbury
on Sunday to keep their
last-eight hopes alive.
The Sharks conceded their
second-highest one-day score
as Surrey, fortified by a stylish
unbeaten 126 from Usman
Afzaal, pummelled an attack
which, Tom Smith apart, all
suffered.
Even if they had been able to
call on the hitting power of
Wright and Matt Prior, a target
of 347 would have stretched
Sussex and they never threatened
it.
Prior's replacement Andrew
Hodd kept tidily and played
some nice shots at the top of
the innings. He was one of four
players to score between 30-40
but no one went on and Sussex's
challenge was effectively
over when, in the space of
seven overs, Adams was
caught at mid off and Murray
Goodwin beaten in the flight
by Afzaal, who did not have
many rivals for the man-of-thematch
award.
Among the bowlers to suffer
was debutant Corey Collymore
who conceded 71 runs in three
spells of six, two and one overs.
The West Indian, whose Kolpak
registration was only ratified
earlier in the day, bowled
well within himself which was
hardly surprising considering
he only arrived from Barbados
on Tuesday morning and had
done little practice since.
There was no margin for
error on an easy-paced pitch as
the Bajan discovered in the last
over of his first spell when he
conceded four boundaries in
five balls. Collymore was not
the only seamer to suffer.
Robin Martin-Jenkins did end
a punishing first-wicket stand
when Scott Newman drove
loosely to mid off but he was
expensive along with James
Kirtley, who got some stick
when Afzaal and the mercurial
Ali Brown plundered 87 off the
last nine overs.
As was the case against Middlesex
on Monday, it needed
left-arm spinners Smith and
Mike Yardy to apply some sort
of mid-innings squeeze.
Neither spun the ball a great
deal but they never allowed the
batsmen to dominate either
and Smith deservedly picked
up James Benning, after he
had sped to run-a-ball half-century,
with a smart low return
catch.
Mark Ramprakash batted
well within himself which was
all he needed to do as Afzaal
began to accelerate again when
Martin-Jenkins came back in
the 32nd over and was
promptly hit for three successive
fours. Ollie Rayner
removed Ramprakash for the
second time in five days but
only after he had lodged the
80th one-day 50 of his career.
Posted by: Samba, West Sussex on 4:44pm Fri 9 May 08
You state Collymore bowled well within himself - that's his pace now!
A panic signing and doesn't offer Sussex any pace which is what we are missing.
I am starting to worry about this season already!
You state Collymore bowled well within himself - that's his pace now!
A panic signing and doesn't offer Sussex any pace which is what we are missing.
I am starting to worry about this season already!
Samba, your worries are well founded. Losing Ryan Harris before the start of the season was a massive blow to our hopes of bowling teams out twice this season. To do that without Mushy too is nigh well impossible. Kirtley and Lewry are obviously not the force of old and RMJ is not pacy enough to be an opening bowler. Realistically, we aren't going to win the Championship again this year but I'm particularly disappointed with our one-day performances so far. We're allowing the opposition batsmen far too many easy runs. When Prior and Wright are available, we should be a match for anyone in the one-day game. But that's reliant on the bowlers restricting runs, even if they can't take wickets. It's early days yet but yes, I agree, the omens are not good.
Samba, your worries are well founded. Losing Ryan Harris before the start of the season was a massive blow to our hopes of bowling teams out twice this season. To do that without Mushy too is nigh well impossible. Kirtley and Lewry are obviously not the force of old and RMJ is not pacy enough to be an opening bowler. Realistically, we aren't going to win the Championship again this year but I'm particularly disappointed with our one-day performances so far. We're allowing the opposition batsmen far too many easy runs. When Prior and Wright are available, we should be a match for anyone in the one-day game. But that's reliant on the bowlers restricting runs, even if they can't take wickets. It's early days yet but yes, I agree, the omens are not good.
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