Nottinghamshire inflicted a devastating defeat on Sussex inside three days to ease their relegation worries and transform their outlook for the rest of the season in Division One.
Mick Newell, the Nottinghamshire coach who missed most of the day because he was attending a meeting of the England selectors, said: “I’m now looking up as well as down because we can finish fourth in the table.”
Nottinghamshire’s third championship win, and the convincing manner in which they achieved it, will give them great confidence for the run-in, especially with Somerset losing. For Sussex, though, their sixth defeat in nine matches means they have slipped into the bottom two and there is a real danger that next year they will be playing second division cricket for the first time since 2010. Their batsmen are out of form and most of their bowlers are injured. They also face the champions and current leaders, Yorkshire, twice before the end of the season.
On Tuesday Sussex lost 16 wickets in 85 overs while scoring 310 runs, undone by some destructive bowling from Harry Gurney, who finished with eight wickets in the match. Newell said: “It was a very complete, three-day performance. I only got here when Sussex were two wickets down in their second innings. I thought Harry had an exceptional match. He was fast and aggressive throughout and presented a challenge for the batsmen. He bowled with serious pace and was impressive whether he was bowling left-arm over or left-arm round. We now want to see him bowl like this more consistently.
“It was also a tremendous effort from Gary Keedy to take five wickets because he’s been playing club cricket all season. And of course James Taylor set up that big score with help from Riki Wessels and Chris Read.”
Newell’s ebullient mood, and that of the new consultant coach, Peter Moores, was in sharp contrast to the Sussex captain Ed Joyce’s grim demeanour. “We have batted poorly. There’s no denying that and we’re now in a relegation battle,” said Joyce. “I have some sympathy for our batting unit because it’s never easy after the opposition have got 570. A lot of the guys made starts, which shows they are in decent nick, but apart from Matt Machan today, who made a good hundred, and Luke Wright, who we’ve relied on throughout the season, we’ve not done well enough.
“I’m not worried about the form of our batsmen, more the attitude. After two good batting performances against Warwickshire and Somerset it was very disappointing but we have to draw a line under it quickly because we’ve got some important one-day cricket coming up.”
Sussex had resumed on Tuesday on 157 for four in their first innings, with their coach, Mark Robinson, asking his batsmen to show the same appetite that had brought James Taylor 291 runs in the Nottinghamshire innings. But they were bowled out for 213, adding only 56 runs for the loss of their six remaining wickets before lunch. Gurney took five for 75. Sussex were 357 runs behind and were asked to follow on.
When they batted again they lost Luke Wells before they had scored a run. The only cheer for the home crowd was Machan’s 108 – he reached his century from 99 balls – which was the fifth of his career and his third this season. The 24-year-old’s decision not to play for Scotland this year and concentrate on nailing down a Sussex place appears to be paying off.
There was also a thumping run-a-ball 67 from Luke Wright to add to his first innings 50 earlier in the day. But Sussex were bowled out for 254 second time round and were a distant second best.
