Lancs v Sussex, at Aigburth

Lancashire (20 pts) 317, 69-1 beat Sussex (4 pts) 218, 166 by 9 wickets. Lancashire completed an outstanding 9 wicket victory within two days against table toppers Sussex to make a statement of intent to the rest of the Championship.

After the first day the game looked evenly balanced. However, impressive efforts from Lancashire's middle and late order, and the retained Sajid Mahmood wreaking havoc amongst the Sussex batting line up, set Lancashire up to close the gap on Sussex to a mere 14 points with a game in hand.

When Chris Adams won the toss for Sussex and elected to have a bat, he certainly would not have anticipated his side being 6 wickets down, 50 minutes after the lunch interval. Worse was still to come as they were bowled out for 218 by tea.

More than half of the Sussex side passed 20, but none of them took any real advantage in the starts they made, only Richard Montgomerie passed the half century mark with a technically sound 56.

There was no doubt the visitors struggled to combat the swing and bounce consistently extracted by Glenn Chapple, whose performances this year must be drawing admirable looks from the England selection committee. He ended the innings with figures of 4-35.

Lancashire themselves then lost 4 wickets before the close of play on the first day. Mushtaq Ahmed, who has caused every county side problems so far this year, accounted for 3 of them.

Mal Loye was in no mood to hang around and struck a vital 80 from only 62 balls including 18 fours. He finally fell to Mushtaq, and was bowled, chopping onto his stumps.

Brad Hodge was not out overnight and he gave the indication he was there to stay on day two, but he fell three short of his half century, as Jason Lewry cleaned him up.

So it was left to Chapple and Cork to attempt to gain a handy lead, and a combination of explosive hitting and clever cricket saw Lancs stretch the lead at the end of the first innings to 99.

Chapple hit 47 off 52 balls, and Cork scored 53 off 59 balls, both batters hitting 3 sixes apiece.
Mushtaq secured another 5 wicket haul, as did Lewry, which included his 500th first class victim. The Sussex attack was weakened by the fact that Pakistan international Rana Naved-ul-Hasan was absent from the game.

The game was then set for Sajid Mahmood to take centre stage. What disappointments he felt having missed out on England's final Test against Sri Lanka, he took out on the Sussex side.

Chapple once again struck early, trapping Hopkinson in front with the second ball of the innings.
Mahmood then ripped out the heart of the visitors batting, with 3 wickets in 17 balls. Chris Nash, Murray Goodwin and Montgomerie were all heading back to the pavillion to leave them reeling at 49-4.

The England quick went on to complete his best figures in the Championship and his maiden 5 wicket haul, as Sussex were rolled out for 166. Chapple chipped in with 3 wickets and spinner Gary Keedy finished with figures of 2-32.

Chris Adams the only man offering any resistance, top scoring with 68.

So Lancashire were left the formailty of chasing down 68 runs. They lost Captain Chilton for 10 when he nicked behind off James Kirtley, but Iain Sutcliffe made the game secure with a commanding 45 not out.

So another impressive effort from the Red Rose boys, as expectations of silverware in the Championship heighten with every victory.

(BBC Lancashire, 10/06/06)