Sussex continued to chip away at Northamptonshire’s batting card before rain put a stop to proceedings on day two of their County Championship opener at the 1st Central County Ground in Hove.
The visitors started two down before losing a further five wickets. All-rounder Luke Procter top scored with 92 from 225 balls before rain wiped out the final session. They finished the day on 292-7 off 102.3 overs.
Despite falling short of an eighth first class hundred, Procter solidified the Northants innings with a defiant and mature knock.
He passed fifty with a glorious straight drive in the morning session and rotated strike metronomically before falling to James Coles in the 79th over. Previously untroubled by spin, Proctor eyed a rash drive which found the hands of Tom Clark at slip.
Indian craftsman Karun Nair also notched a half century, cracking seven boundaries in his 104-ball 57. Not out overnight, Nair began as he meant to go on, skipping down the wicket to crunch off-spinner Jack Carson through the covers early in the morning session.
Batting fluently, Nair’s innings was unexpectedly cut short by a wide rank Danny Lamb delivery, cut to Coles at cover.
Debutant Lamb’s wicket was possibly the worst delivery of an otherwise tidy bowling performance. He finished the day with one wicket for 47 runs from his 16 overs.
Coles also impressed with the ball. After a winter spent with the England Lions in India, he bowled 8.3 overs of regimented off-spin, taking two wickets for only 19 runs.
After dismissing Procter, the 20-year-old turned his attention to fellow all-rounder Saif Zaib, who fell to a leaping catch from short-leg Oli Carter.
Sussex’s opening duo of Jayden Seales and Ollie Robinson also got in on the act with a wicket each. The former dismissed George Bartlett immediately after taking the second new-ball. The latter tempted Rob Keogh into an errant waft outside the off-stump.
Bartlett, who was caught by Coles at third slip, laboured through 70 balls for his 27 runs, while Keogh, caught by Alsop at slip, made 9 (29).
Continuing his fine debut, Seales will resume tomorrow with figures of three for 47 from his 19 overs, while Robinson has one for 46 from his 19.
Not for lack of trying, Sussex’s other bowlers struggled to make an impact. Off-spinner Jack Carson couldn’t extract the same grip as his counterpart Coles and Fynn Hudson-Prentice was unable to find any movement with the Kookaburra ball.
With Sussex hunting further wickets, play came to a premature end before tea, with Michael Finan on 1 alongside Lewis McManus, unbeaten on 22.
After the close of play James Coles said: “It’s a nice pitch. It assisted nicely today, which is a little bit different to previous years, so it was nice to get a good opportunity to bowl.
“Before I’d had a bowl I thought the pitch was a bit too placid and a bit too flat but once we got the new ball we put it in the right areas. I think it’s a really good pitch so it’s a shame about the weather but hopefully we can get a result.”
On his time with the England Lions, coached by former England great Graeme Swann, Coles said: “It’s been really good from a confidence perspective, being given the opportunity to bowl against world class players and develop my game to where I’ve got the confidence to try to take wickets rather than control a run rate.
“Working with Swanny, he says that one of my great attributes is the bounce I can create, so I’m not too surprised about that, but I was surprised by the amount of spin that was on offer.
“I didn’t do too much technically with him (Swann). He’s very much based on the mental side of the game. His view is once you get to a certain level, it’s all mental, which is completely true.”
Play is due to resume tomorrow (Sunday 7 April) at 11am at the 1st Central County Ground in Hove.
