Sussex Sharks lose to Surrey (T20)

Sussex Sharks had one of those days generally titled as a bad day at the office and no one more than Jefra Archer. High hopes were entertained by Sussex in white ball games especially as the new coach Dizzy Gillespie won the Bash with Adelaide and recruited one of their ex-players and the top wicket wicker taker in the IPL, leggie Rashid Khan. We had won our first three games and now host county neighbours Surrey last night. Despite their geographical proximity, the two clubs could not be more different. Surrey are the Chelsea or Manchester City awash with money with a summer Test Match and sell-out t20 games at the Oval.  They can and do recruit the best. Sussex is a pleasant , affable, old-fashioned club where you watch the cricket in a deck chair with the seagulls swooping.

The problem started in the first over when Aaron Finch dollied up a catch which Jefra Archer dropped. He went in to his hold his bat for 131. Despite a slow start, Surrey amassed 192. With Luke Wright out in the first over it was always going to be too much for Sussex.

Archer bowled a no ball in the final closing over for a dreadful game for him and was run out by Phil Salt who scored 74 and was the only source of resistance.

There is so much not to like for me in the T20: the noise of the constant blaring of sixties and seventies rock music; the way it has become a night of raucous revelry for the lads; the lack of any decorum, the fellow in front of us stood over a girl he was chatting up totally blocking our view; terrible food outlets; a scoreboard which in its eagerness to show banner advertising could not display the overs. Sussex were the pioneers of limited over cricket under Ted Dexter and I’m sure he would never have put Surrey into bat and set a more imaginative field. With the resources we have I still predict a successful t20 season but whether I will be watching this at Hove is a different matter.