Sussex Sharks lose at Eastbourne

Yesterday I went to the Saffrons Ground, Eastbourne for the Royal London fixture with Gloucestershire. Sussex had not played there for 17 years. County cricket is what it says and the counties rather than be metro centric should reach out to other grounds. Arundel is always popular and Sussex have played at Horsham, Hastings and of course Eastbourne. According to Chris Adams, skipper of the 2003 Championship side in his weekly column in the Argus, Nasser Hussein complained about the Saffrons’ pitch, facilities, well everything when he was here with Essex. The pitch was slow and there are no permanent stands. However the tree lined ground and marquees made for a sylvan , festive atmosphere in the sun. Sussex placed third in the Southern division and needed to win to stay in a qualifying place. Chris Nash, Luke Wright and Laurie Evans built a platform but a long tail and failing batters did not add to it and we posted a vulnerable total of 248 runs. Fast bowler Chris Liddle who had played for us and now Gloucestershire returned to torment us with 5-52. Gloucestershire have the Australian run accumulator Michel Klinger. Little appreciated except by the Jewish Chronicle who keep me informed of his successes he only got a call up for the national side in T20 aged 35. He has scored over 11,000 first class runs and been a loyal servant to Gloucester cricket and contributed 53. Gloucestershire losing less wickets were able to promote big hitting Jack Taylor up the order, he quickly knocked up 64 with 2 pulled sixes to reach the total with 8 balls to spare. Sussex now need to win at the Ageas bowl Hampshire on Wednesday to qualify.

I sat in the Corporate section. A slow murmur of conversation rose in volume as the spectators imbibed more and more. It’s always an odd feeling to be sober and watch a group getting drunk. Next to me was a young man whose girlfriend resembled Kate, Duchess of Cambridge. She had a confident manner berating her boyfriend’s pal who appeared to work in a family winery locally and was under attack for his casual sexual cavorting. It shows the danger of speaking loudly in public as he spoke of one family, whose son has passed through the Sussex Academy, and whom I happen to know. By her fourth and fifth lager the young lady started on her boyfriend who had apparently returned late for a meal she cooked for him saying she was being taken for a ” total c–t”.

Whilst I find I strangely attractive to hear a posh girl using coarse language, I still preferred to concentrate on the cricket on view. Next to me was the proverbial anorak, actually dressed in one, who scored in his book and was a mine of information on Sussex cricket. Just across the way were the heavy hitters of Sussex CCC cricket, ex-Chairman Jim May, new Chairman Bob Warren and new CEO Rob Andrew with his glamorous wife. It was definitely more a day out in the sun than intense sports watching. I too enjoyed my day at the Saffrons but my residual emotion as I enjoyed the splendid view of the South Downs was sadness that Sussex may have blown their Royal London chances after defeats at the hands of Essex and Gloucestershire.