Tigers Tamed

Sussex v Bangladesh at Hove (3 Day Match): Sussex won the toss and elected to bat

Bangladesh suffered a long hard day in the field, on the first day of their tour match with a second string Sussex side at Hove.

Both teams made changes coming into the match with Sussex resting a number of first team members and giving youth their opportunity to impress. Bangladesh have also taken the option to see all of their touring squad in action before the first Test by bringing in Shahriar Nafees, Talha Jubair, Mushfiqur Rahim and Enamul Haque jnr.

With the English summer sun making a much welcomed appearance all around the country it made stand in captain Matthew Prior have no hesitation in electing to bat first on a good looking pitch.

Richard Montgomerie and Carl Hopkinson opened up for Sussex in aggressive style with Montgomerie principally the aggressor taking two fine boundaries from the first over of the day from Shahadat Hossain.

Talha Jubair made the initial breakthrough of the day when he had Montgomerie caught just one run short of his half century, his scoring shots came predominantly from his nine boundaries and from just 56 deliveries.

But that was about the best that Bangladesh were able to do as the Sussex batsman negotiated all that the Bangladesh bowlers could conjure up, with Hopkinson now joined in the middle by the inform Michael Yardy.

The pair put on an impressive 133-second wicket partnership before Hopkinson was run out for a well-made 64. The wicket though did little to disturb the momentum of the innings as Matthew Prior continued where the others has left off and continued to score at a brisk rate.

Just before Tea on the first day Michael Yardy reached his third century of the season from 148 deliveries and again his runs coming from a high proportion of boundaries. (Yardy 100* 148 balls, 15×4’s)

At Tea Bangladesh were looking at a big first innings deficit with the county side already well placed on 246/2.

After Tea Sussex continued to build on their solid start as the bowlers continued to toil away on a surface that looks to be wonderful to bat on.

Bangladesh to their credit did finally get some reward for their efforts with the wicket of Prior but not before he had managed to bring up his half century, which included eight boundaries. Aftab Ahmed the wicket-taker.

Tim Ambrose another promising wicket keeper coming through the ranks at Sussex joined Yardy in the middle at the fall of the third wicket.

However Bangladesh again couldn’t press home the opportunity for a couple of quick wickets as Ambrose was happy to play himself in and allow Yardy to continue to score.

The pair though untroubled and were soon happy to playing their natural games with the Bangladesh bowlers unable to stem the constant flow of runs from the bat.

Halfway through the last session the fourth wicket pair had already put on a half century stand and things from the home sides prospective were going along just about prefect. Michael Yardy though had progressed nicely along to within touching distance of 150 that he duly bought up in the 78th over of the day in exactly 200 deliveries.

By the close on the first day Sussex had progressed to 412/3 With Michael Yardy on to 180 not out And Tim Ambrose on to 49 not out, just making it to their century partnership before stumps were called for the day.

Indications from the actions of the batsman towards the end of the day in particularly Tim Ambrose, Sussex could be looking at the possibility of an overnight declaration as the controlled Ambrose for the much part of his innings smashed three fours from the last two overs of the day in what appeared to be a big effort to get to his own half century.

Match Summary: Stumps Day 1 (of 3)

Sussex: 412/3 (90 overs)
Michael Yardy 180no, Carl Hopkinson 64; Aftab Ahmed 1/42, Talha Jubair 1/99

Teams News

Sussex: R Montgomerie, C Hopkinson, M Yardy, M Prior (Cap), T Ambrose (Wkt), S Heather, J van der Wath, L Wright, C Nash, M Davis, J Lewry.

Bangladesh: Aftab Ahmed, Nafees Iqbal, Shahriar Nafees, Habibul Bashar (Cap), Mohammad Ashraful, Rajin Saleh, Talha Jubair, Mushfiqur Rahim (Wkt), Mashrafe Mortaza, Enamul Haque jnr, Shahadat Hossain.