Yorkshire 325-7 (48 overs)
Sussex Sharks 140 (27.5 overs)
Yorkshire (4 points) beat Sussex (0 points) by 184 runs (DL)
The Sussex Sharks floundered again in the Metro Bank One Day Cup as they were trounced at Hove by Yorkshire who made it two wins out of three.
The victory came on the back of a fine innings of 117 from Will Luxton, with a dozen fours and four sixes and a four-wicket opening burst by Ben Coad when Sussex batted.
Sussex have now lost their opening three games in the competition as they give opportunities to some of their younger players.
They never looked likely to get the 326 needed to win but when they stumbled to 21-5, they looked in danger of undercutting their previous List A low of 49 against Derbyshire in 1969.
Sussex changed their quick bowlers, with Ollie Kirtley, Toby Munt and Sean Hunt coming in for Troy Henry, Nantes Oosthuizen and the injured Dom Goodman. Yorkshire made just one change: Coad replaced Jack White.
Yorkshire’s total was built around a dominant fourth-wicket stand between Luxton and Sam Whiteman (74) who added 160 runs in 26 overs.
While they were together, a strong Yorkshire team looked capable of making a score in excess of 350 against an inexperienced Sussex attack.
The match, which was soon reduced to 48 overs because of an early shower, got off to a strange start when Munt, in his second game, went for 17 in the opening over, with three fours and two wides.
In the second over, bowled by Hunt, the first short delivery was hooked for six by Adam Lyth, the second was a wide and the batsman pulled the next ball to Tom Price at deep backward square-leg. Lyth had made 21 from seven balls.
The fifty came up in the sixth over but, from the last ball of that over, bowled by Hunt, Tom Price took another catch, this time diving at backward-point, to dismiss Will Bennison.
The runs looked there for the taking but Sussex kept chipping away in the wickets column and their fielding was often outstanding.
Yorkshire lost their third wicket at 75 in the 11th over when Luxton called for a quick single and James Wharton was run out by Leaning’s direct hit from backward-point.
Luxton, driving fluently, and Whiteman, both scoring at just over a run a ball, then figured in the partnership of the match until Whiteman was brilliantly caught by Fynn Hudson-Prentice, one-handed at cover. The more experienced Hunt, with three wickets, was the pick of the Sussex bowlers.
When Sussex batted, Charlie Tear was caught behind in the second over and Coad made it three wickets in his first two overs when he bowled George Thomas and had Tom Price LBW.
Dan Ibrahim was caught behind and Leaning was caught at midwicket before Hudson-Prentice hit one Ben Cliff over for 22 as he made a 30-ball fifty.
And captain Jack Carson also gave home supporters some cheer with a 46-ball 49. Coad finished with a List A best 5-12.
Sussex director of cricket Paul Farbrace said: “It was two halves. In terms of our bowling, throwing three young players into a home game together was always going to be testing for them.
“But I thought all three of them – Ollie Kirtley, Toby Munt and Freddie Price – were outstanding.
“And all three will be better for the experience of the past week. They’ve had a tough week, a tough introduction to professional cricket.
“But I think all three of them have shown they’re going to have bright futures. They coped under pressure. It was a 350 pitch so I was quite pleased with how we bowled.
“We didn’t bowl Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Tom Price today because we wanted the young ones to have the responsibility and learn.
“But from a batting point of view, that top six, they’re not kids. They’ve all played enough cricket and that’s not acceptable.
“Ben Coad is an excellent bowler, one of the best in county cricket. But the top six, that was very ordinary. No excuses for that. I won’t say exactly the words I used but it just wasn’t good enough.”
Coad himself said: “I’m ecstatic. No hiding, it’s been a tough year, a tough couple of years for me, so it’s great to get my first five-for in List A cricket. I’m really happy.
“There was a little bit of help out there for the bowlers.
“Luxy’s knock and Sammy’s knock were outstanding because there was a bit in the pitch. And, for us with the ball, obviously taking wickets helps keep that run-rate down because it’s a new man every time.
“But, yeah, just really happy with it and glad that I could get it in the right areas and get the wickets.
“We had a bit of a slow start in that Hampshire game. But we knew what we were capable of. That win at Glamorgan was a bit of an ugly one, but it got us going. Today was more of a case of what we’re about.”
