Sussex v Derbyshire day 1

Sussex 391-4 (Hughes 144, Haines 72, Alsop 69*)

v Derbyshire

Even when you have supported a club for 57 summers, not to mention having played the game for around 45,  there are still things that have a tendency to surprise. 

In a season that has produced a few such moments, 'Hove day one' will go down alongside 'Chesterfield day one' in the biggest surprises. We chose to bat at Chesterfield and pretty much everyone else was surprised at the decision. We chose to bowl today and it looked equally contentious. Unless the master plan is to easily chase down 400 on the last afternoon, of course..

There was a time when bowling first at Hove made a lot of sense. Sussex tended to do it often when they had Maurice Tate to open the bowling and they did it even more frequently when Imran Khan and Garth Le Roux steamed in with sea fret hanging around and more than a tinge of green on the pitch. Heck, even our own Michael Holding will recall the 8-21 he took here, the ball seemingly on a piece of elastic for him to tug at will.

Today? On a lovely sunny day (a rare beast in 2024) the pitch looked like a road and the decision to bowl first in such conditions seemed odd. I don't think we bowled especially well, but the Sussex openers cast nary a backwards glance, as they racked up 150 without loss by lunch. 

It was my first real sighting of Daniel Hughes in Sussex colours and I could see why they have signed him for next season over Cheteshwar Pujara. He is an assertive player, similar in style to Michael di Venuto and looked hugely impressive today. Plenty of time to spare, wide range of strokes, willing and able to rotate the strike. What's not to like? Tom Haines is a fine player himself but looked almost pedestrian in comparison. 

The attack looked somewhat toothless and the need for a good overseas opening bowler was clear. Then again, a talented leg spinner would have been interesting to watch and one of these options has to be on our winter shopping list. 

Chances were put down, something I seem to have written far too often this summer and we need to find more reliable slip fielders for 2025. Either that or find a modern version of Brian Statham, mainly dealing in bowled and leg before victims. My report card on the slip cordon this year would definitely read 'C+, must do better'.

The batting was more subdued after the departure of Hughes at 240, made in only 46 overs, but it was largely damage limitation by that point. Jack Morley bowled steadily, as did David Lloyd, but if the spinners are bowling 42 overs on the first day AFTER you won the toss, then either the seam attack has had a collective off day or you are making an admission that the decision to bowl wasn't the right one. 

Before half an hour of the day's play had elapsed, I messaged a friend to say that Sussex would rack up 400 before the close. 

I wasn't too far wide of the mark with that assertion. Although Derbyshire fought back hard, especially in the session between lunch and tea, they are looking down a barrel at the end of the first day. Logically, the home side should go on to score 600 here, but based on what I saw today, there is no reason why Derbyshire shouldn't respond in kind. 

I guess we will have an idea on that by this time tomorrow.