Yorkshire v Sussex

YORKSHIRE maintained their position as the leaders of the LV= County Championship by easing past Sussex by nine wickets at Scarborough yesterday, their sixth win of the season.

With second-placed Nottinghamshire beating Northamptonshire at Wantage Road, they were only able to extend their lead at the top by a point to six with three matches left.

Andrew Gale’s side clinched a maximum haul of 24 points by bowling Sussex out for 230 just before tea on day four after they had started the day at 98-4 in their second innings and still 27 runs in arrears.

That left Yorkshire a target of 106 in the last 39 overs of the day, one they achieved for the loss of only Alex Lees for 46 inside 21.

At exactly the same stage of the season last year, Yorkshire lost to Durham here, a result which ultimately cost them the title.

“We learned some really good lessons from that game last year,” said coach Jason Gillespie.

“When we had our foot on the throat, we had to keep it there. We don’t let the opposition off the hook. We did that with the bat in this match. We were under a little bit of pressure, but we fought back.

“Then with the ball, they had some partnerships, but we were patient. They were the lessons we learnt from last year. The lads are in a really good place.

“To come back and win by nine wickets after being 9-2 having put them in and they’ve scored over 360, it’s an incredibly pleasing result. That just shows there’s a lot of belief in the camp.”

As Gillespie said, patience definitely was the key attribute Yorkshire needed yesterday as Luke Wright’s third century of the season, an excellent 113, ensured they went wicketless until the penultimate over of the morning session.

He shared 127 for the fifth wicket with Steffan Piolet (32) before the latter was trapped lbw by Steve Patterson to leave the score at 175-5, a lead of 50.

Wickets then fell regularly through the afternoon as Patterson, Tim Bresnan (3-60) and Adil Rashid all struck twice.

Wright, trapped lbw propping forward to Bresnan, was the first of Sussex’s last four wickets to fall for just 29. Bresnan is now just two wickets away from 400 in firstclass cricket having posted 4,000 first-class runs earlier in this match.

Yorkshire made extremely light work of the 106 target, a pursuit which they started shortly before tea. Lees and Adam Lyth, who finished with 39 not out, took a liking to James Tredwell’s offspin, hitting him for three sixes between them either straight or over straight mid-wicket.

The first of Yorkshire’s three remaining matches is the Roses game against relegation threatened Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford a week on Sunday.

Scoreboard

Yorkshire v Sussex
At Scarborough.
Overnight: Sussex 368 (E C Joyce 130,
C Cachopa 53, L J Wright 52).Yorkshire
258-5 (K S Williamson 90 no, J M
Bairstow 77).
Yorkshire First Innings
K S Williamson c & b Wells ...............189
A U Rashid b Hobden ...........................28
T T Bresnan c & b Wells....................... 61
S A Patterson lbw b Wells ..................... 5
R J Sidebottom not out ......................... 14
J A Brooks c Hatchett b Tredwell ....... 15
Extras (b3 lb9 w1 nb20) ....33
Total (126.2 overs)............ 493
Fall: 1-3 2-5 3-57 4-206 5-257 6-292
7-449 8-459 9-466
Bowling: Magoffin 37-12-102-2.
Hatchett 23-1-116-1. Tredwell 19.2-1-76-
2. Hobden 22-1-101-2. Piolet 13-0-48-0.
Wells 12-1-38-3.
Sussex Second Innings
L W Wells b Sidebottom ........................ 0
C D Nash c Bairstow b Brooks........... 15
E C Joyce lbw b Sidebottom.................. 5
C Cachopa c Lyth b Bresnan ................ 7
L J Wright lbw b Bresnan ................... 113
S A Piolet c Williamson b Patterson..32
B C Brown lbw b Patterson ................... 0
J Tredwell c Sidebottom b Bresnan ...26
S J Magoffin b A U Rashid ................... 18
L J Hatchett c Gale b A U Rashid......... 4
M E Hobden not out ................................ 0
Extras (b7 lb2 w1 pens 0) .10
Total (79.1 overs) .............. 230
Fall: 1-8 2-20 3-20 4-48 5-175 6-175
7-201 8-218 9-223
Bowling: Sidebottom 11-2-26-2. Brooks
15-2-68-1. Bresnan 17-2-60-3. Patterson
16-8-24-2. A U Rashid 19.1-6-40-2. Lyth
1-0-3-0.
Yorkshire Second Innings
A Lyth not out ..........................................39
A Z Lees c Hatchett b Hobden ...........46
K S Williamson not out ......................... 15
Extras (b4 lb2 pens 0).......... 6
Total 1 wkt (20.1 overs) ... 106
Fall: 1-88
Bowling: Magoffin 5-2-13-0. Hatchett
7-0-31-0. Tredwell 4-0-32-0. Hobden 3-0-
22-1. Wells 1.1-0-2-0.
Yorkshire (24pts) beat Sussex (6pts) by 9 wkts