Sussex secure early win on Day four at hove
16 August 2016
Sussex secured an early win on day four of the Specsavers County Championship match with Gloucestershire.
Sussex required 17 balls on the final day to take the last of the nine Gloucestershire wickets they needed to win by an innings and two runs.
Sussex had taken control of the game on the second and third days, as centuries from Luke Wells and Ben Brown built a 160-run lead on first innings. With Liam Norwell absent with a head injury sustained while batting on the second morning, Sussex only required nine second innings wicket and, either side of tea on Monday, they picked up eight of them for just 112.
In their way stood the Taylor brothers, Jack and Matt, who - even with an extra eight overs taken on the third day - made it to stumps just 11 runs behind, with the former smiting three sixes in his 52 not out.
On the final morning, their resistance briefly continued, with Matt punching Steve Magoffin through the covers for four in the first over, and Jack - who looked to farm the strike - hitting Chris Jordan down the ground for four more.
But in Magoffin’s second over, Jack Taylor looked to clear the infield and smash Gloucestershire into the lead, but was bowled for 56 to become the Australian’s seventh wicket of the match. Jordan finished with 4 for 36 in the second innings to go with his 52 runs.
Sussex gained the maximum 24 points from the match, while Gloucestershire took six. Both teams have five games left in the season, and Sussex remain unbeaten, although nine of their matches have ended in draws.
Speaking after the match, Michael Klinger said "Their first innings we could have restricted them to a few less, and we would have liked more first innings runs. 450 not 360 makes them play differently when they come out to bat. We could have taken more control if we weren't 40 for four, but from there 360 was a pretty good result. In the second innings we were under pressure from good bowling and weren't up to it to withstand that"
"We need to get better [as a batting unit]. We can't be a top two or three team if we keep doing that. We need to be more consistent, that’s when we will become more a better side. It’s about having the mindset of doing it time and time again. If someone misses out, others need to step up."
