Hampshire arrived at Hove rooted to Division One’s foot, without a win and without a five-wicket haul. In the reverse fixture, the season’s first, they were so soundly beaten that they mustered three points.
Since then the Rose Bowl has been so devoid of life that three games have seen hands shaken and draws declared early. So toothless were Hants in last week’s draw against their fellow strugglers Worcestershire that the coach, Dale Benkenstein, was only half-joking when he said he had been in the nets in case he was required.
Monday, however, was Hampshire’s finest day of the season. On a better pitch against a weakened Sussex – only one of their four first-choice seamers is playing – Hampshire batted aggressively to earn a big lead. Then, for the second time in the match, they dismissed Sussex’s top four for 94. Fidel Edwards removed Chris Nash in the day’s penultimate over to leave day four a distant prospect.
Adam Wheater notched Hampshire’s second century of the season, in a match-swinging partnership with Gareth Berg, who was run out on 99.
With the ball, Edwards was every bit as speedy, hostile and rhythmic, removing the top three in his first five overs. Luke Wells was caught scoreless at slip, Matt Machan played on and Mike Yardy pinned in front. Edwards began the innings by miming his action, following through, grinning, then marking Wells’s guard. A volley of short bowling would ensue.
Berg followed his best figures and highest score since 2011 by removing Ed Joyce by drawing an edge after the batsman’s uncertainty had been created by a ball that hit his helmet. Nash (50) notched his top score of the season for the second time, sharing 40 with Luke Wright, who continued to attack even as Edwards peppered him with short deliveries.
Earlier Wheater and Berg’s counter-punching partnership, worth 165, dragged Hampshire into the ascendancy when a lead was not guaranteed. Wheater was busy in reaching his ton in 82 balls, running hard and improvising, consecutively reverse-sweeping Wells for boundaries in an over worth 15.
He targeted spin and picked on the debutant seamer, Fynn Hudson-Prentice, while Berg was equally brutal, moving from 84 to 96 in two Yardy balls, the second of which found its way into the car park. The innings was ended when Berg was run out chasing a second for his century by a Matt Hobden direct hit from square-leg.
Considering that a first win of the season is likely unless the Sussex tail wags mightily, one senses Berg might not mind too much.
