Gloucestershire – 417 all out
Sussex – 267-5
Fifties from Tom Alsop, Tom Clark and Cheteshwar Pujara kept Sussex in the game on day two of their County Championship fixture against Gloucestershire at the 1st Central County Ground in Hove.
After dismissing the visitors for 417 in the first innings, Sussex managed 267-5 at stumps, trailing by 150 runs with Chet Pujara and John Simpson unbeaten on 75 (129) and 1 (18) respectively.
After the early wicket of Tom Haines, a 108-run partnership between Alsop and Clark steadied the Sussex ship. Battling through a testing opening spell from Ajeet Singh Dale, the two Toms battened down the hatches, keeping out the good balls and rotating strike when possible.
Clark, who’s endured a poor start to the County Championship season, found his feet after a brief encounter with Singh Dale. After a few choice words in the middle, the Sussex opener responded with a firmly pulled boundary off the very next ball, before reaching his fifty with a nudge off spin bowler Ollie Price.
His partner was equally watchful, seeing off exactly 100 balls for his half-century, before expanding after tea.
When joined by Pujara, Alsop targeted the loose balls, taking advantage of anything wide or overpitched. Having laboured to fifty, the left-hander hurried to 84 from his next 56 balls before trying one shot too many and falling in the evening session, skying a short Dominic Goodman delivery to a grateful Tom Price at wide third man.
Bowling a dogged line and length throughout, Goodman took two wickets on day two, previously finding the edge of Clark with a moving out-swinger in the opening overs. His determined effort was rewarded with respectable figures of 2 for 37 from his 15 overs.
The aggressive Singh Dale was the only other Gloucestershire pacer to take a wicket at this stage, finding the edge of Haines, who was caught expertly by Miles Hammond at gully.
Despite a fiery spell, which included some pacy short bowling, the right-armer was ultimately ineffectual, conceding 51 runs off his 15 overs.
Later in the day, Indian veteran Pujara showed all the experience of his 103 test appearances. Initially starting fast, Pujara played a mature knock, content to leave anything threatening before punishing the bad balls.
Particularly pleasing were the two drives that he creamed off Price in the 42nd and 44th overs, both flying back past the bowler for four.
Notching eight boundaries in his 188 minutes at the crease, Pujara knocked his way to fifty from his 84th ball.
With the day drawing to a close, Sussex looked to be in the ascendancy, before left-arm spin bowler Zafar Gohar struck with two wickets in two balls.
First, he tempted James Coles to an ambitious swipe which was caught on the leg-side boundary by Goodman. Gohar then trapped Jack Carson lbw with a full, drifting delivery.
Before his dismissal, Coles had seemed untroubled, carving his way to 27 (53) with four boundaries.
In the morning session, tail-end batters Gohar and Zaman Akhter earned their side a further two batting points with an 86-run stand to take Gloucestershire past 400.
Sharing 13 boundaries between them, the pair dominated the morning session, before Gohar fell on the hour. In a particularly brutal knock, the former Pakistan man took a particular liking to England’s Ollie Robinson, whom he crunched for consecutive boundaries in the day’s third over.
Akhter also took the attack to Sussex, dispatching five fours and a six in his 55-ball 45. Of note was a slog-sweep that he sent sailing over the leg-side boundary against off-spinner Coles in the penultimate over of the innings.
The visitors’ fun eventually came to an end when Gohar was bowled by a looping Coles delivery and new man Singh Dale hit a catch straight back to Sussex’s other spinner, Carson, three overs later.
After the close of play, Tom Alsop said: “Gloucestershire on the whole bowled pretty well. I think that’s what, on reflection, is quite frustrating for us. Yesterday it felt like we missed a bit of an opportunity and then again today. We did hard work in periods and then let them back in the game.
“I tried to back my defence and trust that they (Gloucestershire’s bowlers) will miss at some point. I was still looking to score and when the opportunity presents itself, being nice and solid in defence and taking it.
“It’s a good wicket. I think it’s just starting to take a little bit of spin and also it was a bit too pacey towards the end.”
