Centurion Joyce seals poignant return to Lord's (From The Argus)

Centurion Joyce seals poignant return to Lord's

8:00am Monday 6th July 2009 in

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Clear the diary ... Sussex are back at Lord’s for the second time in four years on July 25 and the tenth time in their history after a breathless victory over Gloucestershire at Hove yesterday that was closer than the margin of victory would suggest.

It will a particularly poignant return to headquarters for Ed Joyce, whose career-best 146 eventually proved decisive.

The 30-year-old left Middlesex for the South Coast to give himself more of an opportunity to play in the big games and he will walk out at headquarters knowing that no one has done more to get Sussex there.

He came into the game with two FP Trophy hundreds already this season but trumped that as Sussex made their highest ever one-day total at Hove.

With Murray Goodwin contributing 60 to a third-wicket stand of 144 in 20 overs the Sharks were on course for 350-plus at one stage. Goodwin’s dismissal stalled their momentum and they only scored 57 runs in the last ten overs but 326-7 still looked ample.

Not so. After the early loss of Kadeer Ali skipper Alex Gidman and Hamish Marshall changed the mood with 155 in 25 overs which kept Gloucestershire up with an asking rate of 6.5 an over.

They were helped by some occasionally ragged fielding on an admittedly difficult surface and a surfeit of extras – 38 in total including 21 wides, the equivalent of 3.3 more overs.

Although Marshall was run out by the alert Joyce at short third-man and danger man Craig Spearman fell cheaply Gidman and Chris Taylor tilted the balance back in Gloucestershire’s favour with 36 in four overs.

Taylor was bowled in Yasir Arafat’s second spell but Gloucestershire needed a gettable 78 off the last ten overs with Gidman still there. It was time for cool heads and Yardy brought himself back in the 41st over and had his opposite number superbly caught behind by Andy Hodd with his third ball back.

Despite some lusty blows by James Franklin the Gladiators lost their last six wickets for 40 runs in 7.3 overs, Yardy picking up 4-54 including two wickets in successive balls to finish it off halfway through the 48th over.

He said: “We have had games here this season when we’ve had to defend big totals and I thought we did well to hold our nerve.

“They chased well but you always know that things change if you get a couple of wickets and we now have a great day at Lord’s to look forward too. It was a fantastic day for the club and I’m so pleased for Ed – he’s got to be knocking on the door for England again after that.”

It would have been a long haul back down the M4 for Gidman last night despite his career-best 116. Perhaps it was inexperience but his decision to bowl first made as little sense at 10.45am as it did eight hours later when the celebrations in the home dressing room were ringing out loud and clear.

Although this was a used pitch “glued” by grounds man Andy Mackay to provide some carry it was always going to help the slow bowlers more and more. Sussex would have batted first and when Joyce and Chris Nash brought up the 50 in just 8.1 overs the tone had been set.

Joyce played magnificently as he took his aggregate in this competition to 531 runs. His first 50 off 57 balls was relatively sedate: he had clearly set his stall to bat as long as possible which gave Nash (32) and Luke Wright (36) licence to play with freedom and when Wright fell in the 19th over Sussex were already scoring at more than a run a ball.

He had one moment of concern on the way to his ninth one-day hundred when Vikram Banerjee claimed a catch on the backward square-leg boundary having trodden on the rope with his back foot. If the game had not been televised and a third umpire in place Joyce would have been out. As it was he was heading back to the pavilion when the umpires, seeking confirmation, called him back and signalled six. Banerjee, not surprisingly, was booed for the rest of the day.

Gloucestershire dragged it back well once Goodwin had lost his off stump giving himself room to flick a ball from Jon Lewis down the leg side. Joyce, though, was remorseless and in the end only fatigue stopped him from batting through. Having been reprieved on the boundary by Banerjee off a tired-looking pull he was run out by Steve Kirby off the next ball, having faced 139 deliveries and hit 13 fours and three sixes.