SUSSEX
TAKE CONTROL ON DAY TWO by Marcus Hook
Sussex 278-7 v Surrey 205.
Fifties from Murray Goodwin, Michael Yardy and
Luke Wright put Sussex in command on day two of Surrey's visit to
Hove. After needing just 19 deliveries to polish off the visitors'
three remaining wickets, the Martlets established a lead of 73
thanks mainly to Yardy and Goodwin's 117-run alliance for the third
wicket, which made amends for the early losses of Chris Nash and Joe
Gatting. Having said that, Jade Dernbach's late burst with the
second new ball means that Surrey could still be in with a shout if
they make short work of the hosts' tail this morning.
Nash departed in the third over of the home side's
reply to Surrey's 205, when Andre Nel got the ball to nip back as
well as keep low. However, Nash appeared to be far from happy with
the decision. At lunch Nel's figures were 9-6-9-1, but after the
break it was a different story once Yardy had pulled and picked the
South African up over the in field on the leg-side for boundaries.
Gatting was out to a spliced pull, which looped
high to mid-off, to make it 26-2 in the twentieth over. The Surrey
attack stuck to their task, but begun to lose their grip on the
scoring when Goodwin cut Nel and Dernbach and used his feet to
Gareth Batty. The Zimbabwean's half century came off just 70
deliveries. The diminutive right-hander swept Batty for four, but
when the former Worcestershire man switched ends in the 54th over he
defeated Goodwin, who had designs on working the off-spinner to leg.
Yardy, who was on 29 when he was dropped at second
slip, went to a more deliberate fifty, which came off 157 balls,
with a reverse swept four off Batty. Wright injected some impetus
back into the innings by pulling Iftikhar Anjum for four shortly
before tea.
After the break Yardy was LBW, attempting to sweep
a full-pitched delivery from Chris Schofield. But Wright's
entertaining 63 from 68 deliveries, which included nine fours and a
slog swept six off Batty, helped the home side regain the upper
ground.
Wright became Iftikhar's second victim when he
miscued a pull to mid-on in the 78th over, which exposed Michael
Thornely and Andrew Hodd to the second new ball. Thornely despatched
Iftikhar through cover for four, but then Hodd, in two minds, lost
his leg stump to Dernbach's slower ball. Two overs later, Dernbach
struck again, sending Thornely's off peg cartwheeling to keep Surrey
in the hunt, just.
Earlier, Rana Naved made a sensational start by
accounting for Nel and Iftikhar with the first two balls of the day.
Nel was bowled off his pads by a leg stump yorker and Iftikhar's
tired-looking forward defensive found him plumb in front. Schofield
was the last Surrey man to go, padding up to one that held its line,
to give Robin Martin-Jenkins 5-45 - his best figures at Hove for
nearly three years.
GO TO:
BACK TO:
|