LONDON, CMC – West Indies fast bowler Jayden Seales endured a long, hard grind with Sussex after they were to toil against Middlesex in Division 2 of the English County Championship in a draw match that ended on Monday.
The 22-year-old from Trinidad & Tobago returned to the squad following his omission last week due to a tight groin, and he ended with one for 79 from 23 overs. At the same time, Middlesex piled up 613 for nine declared, in reply to the visitors’ first innings total of 554 for nine declared, in the seventh-round match at the home of the sport, Lord’s.
Seales got South Africa-born Middlesex captain Leus du Plooy caught at long leg for 25. Still, there was solid batting down the order led by England Test discard Sam Robson, whose 136, opening the batting, was the top score, and Zimbabwe-born uncapped batsman Ryan Higgins made 106.
Four others – led by uncapped Nathan Fernandes with 91 – gathered half-centuries; wicketkeeper-batsman Jack Davies got 68 batting at eight, former England Under-19 captain Max Holden made 61, and Henry Brookes was not out on 52 batting at 10.
Off-spinner Ben Carson, 23, was the pick of the Sussex bowlers, taking four for 166 from 56 overs, but the peaceful nature of the pitch reduced the match to a batting feast, and England pacer Ollie Robinson also bowled off-spin for a period.
Du Plooy and Sussex captain John Simpson decided to call it quits about an hour and 10 minutes before the scheduled close with faint prospects for any other outcome. The draw enabled the visitors to increase their tally of points to 109, eight more than second-placed Middlesex.
Earlier in the match, Simpson and India Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara completed hundreds, and Sussex rewrote their record books twice. Seales did not bat because of the declaration.
Simpson made the second hundred of his short tenure as Sussex captain, 167, while Pujara gathered 129. The visitors eclipsed their previous best total against the hosts, 550 for nine, set in 1980 on home soil at Hove.
Simpson and Pujara shared a stand of 223 for the fifth wicket to erase the previous best against Middlesex of 216 by former Australia opener and South Africa captain Kepler Wessels and Colin Wells in that exact match 44 years ago.
Sussex, the club of Barbados-born England pace bowling duo of Jofra Archer and Christopher Jordan, will return to action on June 23 when they face Leicestershire Foxes at Hove.
Elsewhere, long-standing West Indies pacer Kemar Roach did not make the final 11 for Division 1 leaders Surrey when they were beaten by Hampshire by an innings and 278 runs in three days in Southampton.
Surrey was dismissed for 127 in their first innings, and Hampshire responded with 608 for six declared, with wicketkeeper-batsman Ben Brown not out on 165, opener Toby Albert making 114, and Nick Gubbins getting 103 before bowling the visitors for 203 in their second innings.
Surrey, seeking a hat-trick of titles, still leads the 10-team table with 115 points, only two more than second-placed Essex.
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