John Simpson’s unbeaten 129 and a strong bowling performance left Sussex firmly in control on day two of their Rothesay County Championship clash against Worcestershire at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
Simpson Shines With Fourth Century of the Season
Sussex added 122 runs to their overnight total, finishing on 350, with Simpson’s sublime knock standing out as the highlight. The skipper’s fourth century of the season came off 138 deliveries, featuring 18 boundaries. His 19th first-class hundred cemented his reputation as the backbone of Sussex’s batting this campaign.
“𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏’𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 – 𝑺𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝑺𝒖𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒙 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏,” 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔.
Worcestershire’s Tom Taylor struck early in the morning, removing Jack Carson in the first over, before claiming his 53rd wicket of the season by dismissing Danny Lamb. Later, Matthew Waite bagged two wickets in four deliveries, but Simpson’s brilliance ensured Sussex carried a healthy first-innings lead of 227 runs.
Worcestershire Fight Back But Lose Grip
Chasing the deficit, Worcestershire began strongly as Jake Libby and Rehaan Edavalath forged a 113-run stand for the first wicket. Libby, who crossed 1000 first-class runs for the season, made a fluent 72, while Edavalath contributed 45.
However, both fell in quick succession, and Sussex clawed back control. Jayden Unadkat dismissed Edavalath lbw and then had Libby caught at slip, shifting momentum once more.
“𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝑳𝒊𝒃𝒃𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚. 𝑺𝒖𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒙 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒂 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕.
Despite gritty contributions from Dan Lategan (30) and Rob Jones (46), Worcestershire finished the day on 270 for 6, holding a slender lead of just 43 runs with only four wickets remaining.
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