Somerset 202 (58 overs)
Sussex 77-2 (17.2 overs)
Sussex (3 points) trail Somerset (0 points) by 125 runs with 8 wickets remaining
Henry Crocombe took a hat-trick for Sussex as Somerset’s hopes of a first ever County Championship title took a hit at Hove.
They were bowled out for 202 in just 58 overs in bowler-friendly conditions, with Crocombe, who joins Surrey next year, polishing off the innings with his second five-wicket return in first-class cricket.
A stand of 95 between the consistent Tom Abell (72) and the returning Craig Overton (54), who went into the match with an average of 92.67 against Sussex, rescued Somerset after a poor start.
But they lost their last five wickets for 11 runs – and at the close Sussex were 77-2, having lost both openers.
Conditions were cloudy and humid at the start of play but it was seam movement more than swing that troubled the Somerset batsmen, certainly in the opening hour. They were fortunate not to lose more than four wickets in the opening session.
Sussex broke through with the first ball of the second over when a leg-side delivery from Sean Hunt was flicked up in the air by Tom Lammonby.
Jaydev Unadkat took a fine juggling catch at long leg, just managing to stay within the boundary rope as he did so.
Josh Thomas looked full of attacking strokes as well as confidence after scoring a century in the previous match against Essex. But with the score on 48 he edged Crocombe to wicketkeeper John Simpson.
The pacey Crocombe bowled well within himself in his first spell but he found movement and two balls later he bowled Somerset’s New Zealand left-hander Henry Nicholls. He angled the ball into the batsman from around the wicket and bowled him through the gate.
Archie Vaughan played a peculiar innings for 20. There were four fluent boundaries but he played and missed for the most part and it was no surprise when he was fourth out at 59, caught at fine-leg.
At lunch Somerset were 93-4 after 29 overs and soon after the break they lost a fifth wicket when James Rew nicked off to Hunt. It was Hunt’s third wicket.
He took nine in the match against Warwickshire last week as well as nine in Sussex’s defeat of Somerset at Hove last season.
Somerset were almost 98-6 but the prolific Abell, on 35, was badly dropped by Charlie Tear at first slip off Crocombe.
Hunt, along with the other two main seamers, Unadkat and Crocombe, had bowled almost all the overs in the first session. But part-time bowler Tom Clark stepped in to take the next two wickets in as many deliveries.
Abell edged the bowler to a wide first slip where Tear took a good catch low to his left. It was much more difficult than the one he had shelled. And next ball captain Lewis Gregory drove gently back to the bowler
Then Crocombe made two in two look commonplace. First, he had Overton caught down the leg-side. Then he had Migael Pretorius well caught at third slip by Tom Haines.
He completed the hat-trick when the demoted Jack Leach pushed forward and edged behind. It was the first Sussex hat-trick since Jason Lewry performed the feat in 2001.
The former Somerset skipper Tom Abell said: “At the end of the day, we weren’t really where we wanted to be. But we’re certainly in the game.
“There was a bit in the wicket throughout the day. And now it’s a case of coming back tomorrow morning and trying to hit the right spots, ask lots of questions and create chances.
“It was tricky up top. But we did pretty well then and got into a position where we could have got up to 250 or even 300.
“But they took their opportunity and bowled very well. It’s inevitably disappointing when you could potentially get a few more runs.
“But we thought we were still in the game with 200 on the board as long as we could put them under pressure and that’s still the case going into the second day.”
Crocombe said: “It was my first hat-trick in any form of cricket. I’ve been on a hat-trick before but never got there.
“When I got two in two and Jack Leach came out I wasn’t thinking about a hat-trick. But then Sean Hunt came up to me and said he’d be chasing me around if I got it.
“And then I thought I would just try to make him play. When you’re on a hat-trick you have to make the batsman play. It was a really good moment for me to have my friends around me when I did it.
“We bowled really well this morning and were a bit unlucky. Then they had a good partnership to get back in the game.”
