Alleyne pleased with ‘fight’ shown by Glos in defeat to Sussex
MARK Alleyne praised the “fight” shown by his Gloucestershire side in the five-wicket Vitality County Championship Division Two defeat to Sussex at Hove.
Sussex were left to chase 144 to win in 49 overs, but still needed 29 when left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar took his fifth wicket. However, the nerveless Cheteshwar Pujara guided Sussex to victory with an unbeaten 44.
Miles Hammond (77) and Gohar (52) had given Gloucestershire hope with a seventh-wicket stand of 87, batting through the morning session to lodge their second halfcenturies of the match.
Hammond became one of two victims in three balls for off-spinner Jack Carson and Jayden Seales finished the innings with wickets from successive deliveries as Gloucestershire were dismissed for 205.
Mark Alleyne, Gloucestershire’s head coach, said: “We lost the game despite playing some really good stuff. We got punished for a sloppy 15 overs in the first part of our second innings.
“It was probably the only part of the game we got wrong, but it’s ended up costing us the game.
“The fight today was excellent, but it exaggerated how bad that hour was for us on the third day. Miles Hammond and Zafar Gohar both had really good games.
“We bowled well as a unit. Maybe we could be a bit more threatening by bowling a fuller length and asking the batters more questions. I was pleased with the variety of our attack and Zafar gave us a specialist option. His analysis in the second innings speaks for itself but there was more to it than that. His dedication to his task and his application was exemplary and all at very important times - he gave us the chance to win the game in the second innings by causing havoc with their left-handers at the top of the order.”
Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace said: “It was nervy because they showed an awful lot of fight which you would expect on the last day. They batted well up until lunchtime and Zafar (Gohar) bowled outstandingly – he used the rough outside the left-hander’s off stump brilliantly, varied his pace and angles and kept them in the game.
“We had to play exceptionally well and that’s where someone like (Cheteshwar) Pujara showed his class and value.
“He still works hard every day to keep improving and that sets as great example to the other players. In that situation he was very calm and got us over the line. We weren’t at our best at various times of the game but we now expect to win games. We have got a good balance in our team, we bat all the way down and we feel confident. It’s nice to be top but it doesn’t mean
anything – we want to be top at the end of the season.”
Meanwhile, Somerset captain Lewis Gregory was pleased with his side’s performance in the rain-hit Division One draw against Nottinghamshire at Taunton.
Somerset had the better of the first two days before Joe Clarke and Will Young put together a remarkable triple-century third-wicket stand for Nottinghamshire.
However, only nine overs were possible at the start of the morning session on the final day, which began with the visitors 418-2 in their second innings, leading by 157 runs. Having already broken a Notts record for a third-wicket stand, which had stood since 1903, Clarke and Young added 22 runs, taking the total to 440 before the rain set in at 11.40pm with their partnership extended to 392.
Gregory said: “On the whole I am really pleased. We put ourselves in a position where we were dominating the fixture and, while the surface didn’t give us any help yesterday and the Notts lads played really well, our bowlers kept on punching.
“There were a lot of plus points. It was great to see Craig Overton bat so well because he has had a couple of relatively dry years by his standards. He was hitting the ball beautifully in pre-season and it was good to see that come to fruition in the last couple of games.
“I would like to see pitches here offer a lot more to the bowlers than that one did. It flattened out much quicker than expected, but it’s not an exact science and that can happen here. Three draws is a solid start to the season.
“We have played some really good cricket and now need to build on it with a win.”