Brown ton leads Sussex into day two

DAY ONE | Leicestershire CCC v Sussex CCC 310 for four

SCORECARD | Available HERE

REPORT | Ben Brown’s fourth century of the season put visitors in positive position heading into day two.

The final home LV= County Championship fixture of the 2021 season got underway at the Uptonsteel County Ground, as we hosted Sussex in our penultimate first-class fixture of the campaign.

Our visitors won the toss and opted for a bat on a bright autumn morning in Leicestershire.

There was one change to the Running Foxes XI as Abi Sakande came in to face his former employers, with Will Davis the man missing out.

Chris Wright opened the bowling from the Bennett End, accompanied by Sakande from the Pavilion End.

The opening duo of Ali Orr and Tom Haines got off to a solid start and soon began to accelerate the scoring rate.

Before long, the visitors’ fifty was up, coming inside the first 11 overs of the contest, and just 46 minutes in the middle.

The scoring continued with fluidity for Sussex, with Leicestershire looking to Ed Barnes and Ben Mike from a bowling perspective “ Callum Parkinson also came in for his first over of the day to have a look at how the wicket was playing.

Haines soon brought up his fifty, coming from 66 balls and including eight fours.

The next over saw Sussex’ ton brought up as Orr turned Barnes into the leg side off his backfoot for the single required.

The visitors’ openers were looking in good nick in the middle and had the lunch interval in their sights.

However, Wright had other things on his mind and put an end to the 106-run first wicket stand.

Orr (40) was the man to go after pulling Wright down to long leg. Barnes was on hand though to take an impressive catch to dismiss the Sussex man.

Sussex were 106 for one as Ben Brown joined Haines in the middle.

The second wicket duo then saw the visitors through to the lunch interval with Sussex sitting on 116 for one.

The duo of Haines and Brown brought up their fiftieth run, the over after Sussex’ 150 was reached.

Four overs later, though, and the 64-run partnership came to an end after Mike claimed his first wicket of the day.

Haines (71) was the man to go after outside-edging the delivery angled away from the batsman to George Rhodes at gully who took the catch.

The visitors were now 170 for two with both opening batsmen in the pavilion, as Fynn Hudson-Prentice joined Brown in the middle.

Hudson-Prentice’s stay at the crease only lasted 19 minutes before having to retire not out.

The man who is due to move to Sussex permanently in 2022 took a Sakande bouncer to his left-hand and could not carry on his innings.

Oliver Carter emerged as the man to replace Hudson-Prentice, with Sussex on 185 for two.

Brown soon recorded his fifty, coming from 78 balls and including nine fours after turning Sakande into the leg side for the single required.

The second interval of the day was brought up with the visitors continuing their ascendancy in the middle, sitting on 230 for two, Brown 71*, Carter 18*.

The Running Foxes struggled to break the partnership of Brown and Carter as both settled back into their rhythm following the tea break.

Fifteen overs into the evening and Brown went on to record his fourth first-class hundred of the campaign after driving Parkinson into the covers for two, with the ton coming from 165 balls, including ten fours.

The chance for County to take the new ball came, and the Running Foxes took it at the earliest possible chance.

It took just eight deliveries for Leicestershire to make headway with the new cherry, as Sakande claimed his first wicket of the day.

Carter (40) was the man to go, after Sakande’s delivery seamed inwards to the batsman, caught him playing down the wrong line and cracked against the batsman’s off-stump.

A hard-fought wicket for Leicestershire as the visitors were now 291 for three as Delray Rawlins made his way out.

Rawlins’ stint in the middle lasted just 23 minutes and 11 further runs to the Sussex total, before the batsman was caught behind by Swindells for four, off the bowling of Wright.

Sussex were now 302 for four as Tom Hinley joined Brown in the middle.

The players were soon removed from the field of play at 17:17pm due to the deterioration of the light. Seven overs remained in the day.

It took just five minutes for umpires Robinson and Newell to call time on day one, with seven overs remaining in the day.

The hosts went into stumps sitting on 310 for four with Brown leading the way on 111*, accompanied by Hinley on 6*.

FIGURES (1st inns) | Wright 21-2-78-2, Sakande 16-2-56-1, Mike 15-2-52-1, Barnes 14-2-58-0, Parkinson 16-3-38-0, Rhodes 7-0-15-0

TEAM | Hassan Azad, Sam Evans, George Rhodes, Lewis Hill, Louis Kimber, Harry Swindells (wk), Ben Mike, Ed Barnes, Callum Parkinson (C), Chris Wright, Abi Sakande.

SUSSEX CCC | Ali Orr, Tom Haines (C), Ben Brown, Oliver Carter (wk), Fynn Hudson-Prentice, Delray Rawlins, Jack Carson, Sean Hunt, Henry Crocombe, Joe Sarro, Tom Hinley

IMAGES | Thanks to John Mallett of Outside Off for providing the images throughout the game.

MATCH SPONSOR | Thanks to Marks Electrical for sponsoring round five of the 2021 LV= County Championship.