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Gloucestershire end season with 339-run defeat at Hove

29 September 2023

Sussex took just 45 minutes and 9.5 overs to wrap up victory over Gloucestershire by 339 runs on the fourth morning of the match.  It was their third win of the season.  But the result means Gloucestershire end the summer without a win in the second division of the LV= Insurance County Championship.

Gloucestershire resumed on 113 for five, needing another 400 runs for victory.  Their far fetched hopes were further hit by the news that Ed Middleton would not bat after injuring himself diving in the field the previous day.

There were two wickets each for Brad Currie – giving him six in the match, the same as Sean Hunt – and Jack Carson, whose second was the 100th first-class victim of his highly promising career.

Gloucestershire captain Graeme Buuren finished unbeaten on 67 but Sussex, encouraged by the knowledge that a win could deliver them third place in the table, worked away at the other end. They broke through in the third over of the morning, when Currie had Zafar Gohar caught behind,  and two balls later Matt Taylor gave Tom Clark the chance to improve on his already growing reputation as a slip catcher.  Then it was the turn of Carson.  Josh Shaw had hit a six and two fours in his breezy 18 but was well caught by Fynn Hudson-Prentice as he attempted another boundary.  Zaman Akhter looked a more than useful No 11 as he reverse-swept Carson for six. But he was lbw for 17 as he attempted to repeat the stroke.  Sussex were left regret the fact they had been deducted 17 points this season for various reasons.  But their third win was as many as they had achieved in the previous three summers put together.

Dale Benkenstein, Gloucestershire’s head coach, said: “We lacked one or two seamers who could keep the pressure on in this match.  We weren’t able to put the ball in the right place often enough here.  They bowled better than us for longer.

“We showed at the beginning of the season that we could bowl sides out and take 20 wickets.  But we’ve had injuries - for the past two years really - which have taken some match-winning bowlers out of our attack. 

“Even some of the bowlers who played here had a few niggles. It’s been really tough. But there’s been no lack of effort. But at the moment we’re not good enough in our skillsets.”

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