A gloriously sunny day on the south coast led to the highest crowd of the season for a County Championship match at Sussex and a day of good hard-fought but drama-less cricket. More than 2,000 people had a languid day in the August sunshine enjoying ice-cream, beer and, what the purists might call, “a proper day’s cricket”.
Yorkshire finished the day the happier of the two teams, thanks to an excellent unbeaten 98 by England’s unwanted Gary Ballance, and with the scenes at the Kia Oval it was a timely reminder that he remains a batsman of some class.
Having won the toss and decided to bat first, it was a tricky first hour for Yorkshire in which the ball was moving around. This match is being played on the side of the Hove square that is the liveliest and the one that led to two second team matches being abandoned earlier in the season. They quickly lost Andrew Hodd when he was pouched by Jordan in the slips off a sharp, rising delivery from Oliver Robinson. The next over, Jack Leaning – who had already been dropped by Matt Machan – succumbed to a ball by Jordan that stuck in the pitch and popped back to the extended reach of the tall bowler leaving Yorkshire on 22 for two.
The afternoon session brought three wickets and 125 runs, including a quickfire 43 from Glenn Maxwell, but he fell just after the visitors had notched up their second bonus point and when Adil Rashid’s brief and unconvincing innings was ended by Jordan after tea, it was honours even. The 92-run partnership between Ballance and Tim Bresnan, which resulted in Yorkshire finishing the day on 346 for six, tipped the balance back towards the reigning champions.
This was Jordan’s first championship match after a two month lay-off with injury and it was a very good return; he was directly involved in five of the six wickets. He looked very fresh after his enforced rest and bowled briskly and accurately, particularly coming down the slope from the Cromwell Road end, getting impressive carry and bounce as well as being superbly athletic in the field, and as reliable as always in the slips. He and Robinson were the pick of the bowlers, with three apiece. Robinson, playing against the side that released him for disciplinary reasons, has become an integral part of the Sussex attack taking 44 wickets at 24.59.
It has been a really difficult season for Sussex, with a long injury list and having been knocked out of both limited overs competitions they also find themselves languishing in the relegation zone of Division One. They have been a regular feature in the top flight since the introduction of the two divisions in 2000 and have not been in the second tier since 2010 when they got themselves promoted immediately back to the top flight.
With a 38-point cushion at the top of the table, surely no one can pip Yorkshire to the title and the depth in their squad is so great that they could afford to leave out a bowler of the calibre of Jack Brooks.
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