Sussex 294 and 501-7 declared
Somerset 201 and 334
Sussex win by 260 runs
Sussex wore down Somerset’s spirited resistance to claim their first win since promotion back to Division One in the Rothesay County Championship.
Needing six wickets on the final day at the 1st Central County Ground, they eventually bowled Somerset out for 334 to win by 260 runs – their first top-flight victory for a decade.
It was a commendable final-day effort by an attack depleted by the absence of left-armer Sean Hunt, who took nine for 76 in the match but was unable to bowl on the final day because of an injury to his left arm.
In addition, off-spinner Jack Carson was troubled by a split spinning finger which needed patching up.
In their absence, West Indies’ quick Jayden Seales stepped up. The 23-year-old Trinidadian, who is in his second season at Hove, took two wickets during an outstanding nine-over spell at the start of the day. He returned with the new ball to end an eighth-wicket stand of 82 between Lewis Gregory and Migael Pretorious.
Tom Abell led Somerset’s resistance with 96 and there was a half-century for skipper Lewis Gregory but they were always up against it after being dismissed for 201 in their first innings.
Seales made the breakthrough in his second over of the day with a ball which lifted sharply at James Rew (20), who was caught off the glove in the gully.
Seales could have picked up three or four wickets as he produced some high-quality fast bowling down the slope and generated good pace, bounce and movement.
Abell was put down low to his left at second slip by Tom Clark on 65 as Seales beat the bat regularly.
He should have been celebrating again when Kasey Aldridge, who was on 13, carved loosely to backward point but Fynn Hudson-Prentice shelled a straightforward chance despite getting two hands on the ball.
Aldridge’s reprieve didn’t last long, however. He added a single before falling in Seales’s next over, tempted into driving at a ball which moved just enough to find a thin edge to wicketkeeper John Simpson.
Seales finished with two for 24 from his eight-over burst and once he was out of the attack, Somerset found the going less taxing, although Sussex continued to drop catches.
Abell, 60 overnight, was badly put down at square leg by substitute fielder Harrison Ward on 85 but again it didn’t prove too costly.
Just before lunch Danny Lamb surprised Abell with some extra bounce and Tom Alsop held on superbly at slip. Abell’s fine 96 from 219 balls included 15 fours.
Pretorious was prepared to go for his shots and reached a 59-ball half-century which included a six off Carson and eight fours.
He looked comfortable against the off-spinner and against James Coles’s slow left-arm – but Seales proved a totally different proposition and in his second over with the new ball he plucked out Pretorious’s leg stump with a searing yorker.
The end was nigh for Somerset when Josh Davey lobbed up an easy catch to mid-off as he tried to pull Clark through the leg side.
Gregory and Jack Leach stood firm for 13 more overs, although Leach was badly dropped at slip by Tom Haines on 18 off Coles = and Fynn Hudson-Prentice could only get his fingertips on to Gregory’s firmly struck on drive in his follow through.
But Hudson-Prentice, whose four wickets in Somerset’s first innings did so much to set up victory, finished things off when Gregory followed an outswinger and Coles took the catch at third slip.
Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace said: “It’s a good win against a strong Somerset side – and for three and a half days we were very good.
“It will do our confidence good to beat a team consistently challenging over the last few years.
“I thought up until lunchtime today we played really good cricket and put ourselves in a great position but this afternoon it was no surprise that we dropped catches because our enthusiasm and body language dropped off.
“We can’t afford to have sessions like that. We were so far ahead in the game it didn’t matter too much. but it’s a good lesson for us. We’ve made a good start but we’ve got a lot of learning to do.”
Somerset captain Lewis Gregory said: “We were comprehensively outplayed. I can’t fault the determination we showed today against a good bowling attack on a pitch where if you put enough balls in the right areas there was something in it.
“We’ve had some really good discussions in the dressing room because over the last year or so our record away from home is not great.
“It is something we are going to have to try to get right. We’ve got a strong squad and some talented players and it’s about trying to make us that bit more consistent.”
