Talking Points

Sussex suffered a punishing start to their Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign as they lost by 132 runs to Durham at Hove.

Carrying newfound expectation given their run to last season’s Semi-Finals, Sussex found no kind of form in a crushing bowling performance and largely limp batting response.

Durham’s innings of 427-9, meanwhile, was a new List A record for the county and a new List A record of any team at Hove, taking advantage of a pitch with few apparent demons.

Alex Lees’ 144 from 107 balls was the highlight, alongside David Bedingham’s 102 from 54, and though there was a collapse below them to prevent a score towards 500, there was never much doubt of a win for the northern county.

Sussex surprised with their team news at the toss, opting to leave out last season’s star bowler Ari Karvelas as Henry Crocombe’s extra pace was preferred.

Durham, meanwhile, were unchanged from an opening defeat to Worcestershire and opted to bat, with skipper Alex Lees counting on conditions becoming less favourable as the day wore on.

A ropey start from bowlers Brad Currie and Steven Finn saw the visitors race to 23-0 after three overs, with Graham Clark and Alex Lees showing their capabilities of targeting the shorter leg side boundary.

Finn was proving particularly leaky on his first List A appearance since April 2019, which was damaging to Sussex’s hopes given his role as the key strike bowler.

His fourth over cost 13, including three wides and a glorious six from Clark, and eventually proved to be his final involvement of the day as he suffered a back injury, spoiling his return from a knee issue that had kept him out for over a year.

Crocombe was then summoned into the attack and restored some respect by wrapping up the powerplay with Durham 75-0.

Having worked countless singles during the powerplay, the batsmen then narrowed their focus to boundary peppering, with Clark taking a particular liking to Fynn Hudson-Prentice’s medium-fast pace.

Clark brought up his half-century in the 13^th over, beating Crocombe on the deep midwicket boundary with a four, having earlier sent a six into the clock above the scoreboard on that side.

The Durham 100 followed the very next ball, and Sussex were left scratching their heads at what had changed between a side who went to the Semi-Finals last year and one who picked up a solitary win.

On a weekend of celebrations in Brighton and Hove, there was little Pride to be found in Sussex’s early performance.

As the omitted Karvelas strode around the boundary, though, his appearance seemed to work a little magic.

With Crocombe pitching it up, Clark took aim on the midwicket boundary and came up short to Currie, who moments earlier had received some words of advice from the big Greek.

That did not halt Durham’s progress, with David Bedingham joining Lees to smoke a bundle of boundaries off the Sussex spinners.

Jack Carson was treated with disdain on his List A debut, with one over leaking 19 runs as Lees took three fours and Bedingham carted a huge six into the hospitality suites.

As the visitors reached 200-1 by the halfway stage of their innings, fears were brewing that a record total could be on the cards.

405-4 was the previous highest List A total for Durham, posted away at Kent in the 2021 One Day Cup when they finished as runners-up.

Lees, who made exactly 100 on that occasion, was enjoying another venture down south as he reached his century off an 85^th ball faced, taking a single off Brad Currie.

Busy bludgeoning at the other end, Bedingham brought up his own century in just 52 balls, including three sixes from a Currie over costing 21.

Soon after Bedingham made his landmark, though, his skipper was forced to depart for 144.

Umpire Ian Blackwell looked favourably on an lbw shout from Carson and sent Lees packing just as he reached top gear.

The very next ball, Bedingham tried to smack Crocombe out of the ground and found Tom Alsop at mid-off, finally giving Sussex some joy at 329-3.

A promotion for Migael Pretorius from eight to five was then the impetus for a genuine Durham slide.

Pretorius’ big hitting ended with him being caught at long-off on seven, while England under-19 captain Ben McKinney was out for just five when attempting a reverse sweep against Carson.

Liam Trevaskis followed the very next ball as he chipped a catch back to Carson, while Paul Coughlin was then bowled by Hudson-Prentice.

That completed an incongruous spell of six wickets for just 17 runs, defying the belief of most spectators after the punishment that had previously been extended.

Jonathan Bushnell and Michael Jones restored order in the final 10 overs, though, helping their side finish on 427-9 to claim the highest-ever List A score posted at Hove.

With 428 runs the target ahead of them, Sussex openers Tom Haines and Tom Alsop could be forgiven for feeling a little pressure to get things off to a positive start.

As it was, Alsop was the victim of a fabulous full delivery from Paul Coughlin in just the second over, being bowled through the gate to dent the Sussex spirit even more at 3-1.

Cheteshwar Pujara played a decent hand before becoming too ambitious against young spinner George Drissell, by whom he was caught and bowled for 23.

The same fate befell James Coles, who aimed to accelerate after scoring 12 from 11 balls but sent Liam Trevaskis’ delivery straight into the hands of Lees at midwicket.

And though Tom Haines seemed to be cruising through all the chaos, his day came to an end on 65, feathering the thinnest of edges to wicketkeeper Graham Clark from the bowling of Bushnell.

Resistance was required from what remained of the Sussex line-up, but when Tom Clark was stumped off a wide from Liam Trevaskis, the Sharks were staring down the mire at 134-5.

Oli Carter followed, pushing the ball down Alex Lees’ throat at mid-off from a nondescript Bushnell delivery and out for just 10.

Some fluency finally arrived courtesy of Fynn Hudson-Prentice, who initially combined with Jack Carson for consecutive overs worth 17 and 14.

Carson perished to a fuller ball from Migael Pretorius on 14, but Henry Crocombe emerged as another foil for Hudson-Prentice, who rattled onto his half-century from 25 balls.

Hudson-Prentice eventually fell for 65, miscuing a shot to Coughlin at short third man, but Crocombe continued in the same vein alongside Brad Currie.

The tailenders added 49 for the ninth wicket, taking Durham’s attack all around the ground before Crocombe was finally stumped on 47, reaching for one from Trevaskis and behind stumped by Clark.

With Finn unable to bat, that ended Sussex’s day on 295 all out, being handed their largest-ever defeat by a margin of runs in the One Day Cup, exceeding the 118 runs by which they lost to Warwickshire in 2014.

All photos courtesy of Will Hugall.