Joyce leads Sussex to handsome victory
Sussex thrashed champions Nottinghamshire by nine wickets in three days at Hove to secure their second win of the season in Division One of the County Championship
12-May-2011
Sussex thrashed champions Nottinghamshire by nine wickets in three days at Hove to secure their second win of the season in Division One of the County Championship.
Openers Chris Nash and Ed Joyce continued their impressive start to the season
with their fourth century stand of the season as Sussex cruised to their target
of 184 in just 39.5 overs. The pair added 119 in less than 27 overs, with Nash reaching 50 for the seventh
time this season.
However, he has yet to convert one of his half-centuries into a hundred and
trudged off in frustration again when he was stumped, giving Samit Patel the
charge having hit seven boundaries in his 57. New batsman Luke Wells was dropped on nought but managed to avoid a king pair by hitting Graeme Swann for six.
Wells and Joyce added an unbeaten 68 for the second wicket with the latter finishing not out on 88 after he hit his 14th four to secure victory with three overs of the third day remaining.
Earlier, Nottinghamshire had been bowled out for 342 although opener Neil
Edwards was unable to bat after he suffered a broken wrist when he was struck by
Amjad Khan.
Sussex's target would have been a lot smaller had it not been for a stand of 80
in 12 overs between Adam Voges and Andre Adams. New Zealander Adams was the main aggressor, smashing 64 in 44 balls with four sixes, three of them off Amjad, and seven fours.
He was eventually caught on the boundary by Amjad and Voges followed shortly
afterwards for a gritty 58 off 130 balls when he feathered a catch to give James
Anyon his eighth wicket of the innings.
Anyon finished with four wickets for 104 runs and was the pick of a persevering
attack which claimed five scalps before lunch to put Sussex in control. Monty Panesar bowled 27 balls at the start of the day without conceding a run and the pressure told when Patel cut to backward point shortly after reaching his second half-century of the game.
Nightwatchman Swann swatted Anyon to fine leg and Amjad took his first wicket
of the game when Chris Read top-edged a pull to leave his side 213 for 5. Steven Mullaney, who had suffered a hairline jaw fracture after being struck by Amjad on the second day, showed his bravery by hitting his first ball for six.
But he was soon caught off a leading edge and Stuart Broad's breezy innings of
26 ended when he was caught behind off an Anyon delivery which nipped back. When Adams and Voges came together their side led by just 95 but Sussex struggled to contain the former, even when they took the new ball.
Adams eventually played one aggressive shot too many, although the umpires only
confirmed Amjad had taken a clean catch after referring to the third umpire.