Somerset 62 for 5 (Hudson-Prentice 4-13) trail Sussex 294 (Hughes 49, Clark 49, Gregory 4-90) by 232 runs
There's an old Stewart Lee routine about the attractions (or otherwise) of moving out of London to live in the countryside, which in its mock juxtaposition of urban decay and rural tranquility riffs on the ludicrous notion that "visible otters" might be a guaranteed part of the estate agent's package.
County cricket can find itself viewed in similarly absurd terms. As a refuge from modernity it is still hard to beat but, with many counties now playing the majority of their cricket at increasingly developed stadiums, some of the prerequisites of the pastoral idyll are missing. If there isn't a grass bank, a whitewashed pavilion and spectators allowed on the field at tea, is it really the throwback to a bygone era that was advertised?
For "visible otters" you might well substitute "available deckchairs". Luckily at Hove there are still plenty of those - although not many were still untenanted as a crowd of 1,500 sunned themselves on day one of Sussex's first home fixture since returning to Division One of the Rothesay County Championship. A century stand between Dan Hughes and Tom Clark during the morning session bore the "Good Old Sussex By The Sea" stamp of approval, though a post-lunch collapse of 6 for 53 undid some of that hard work and it took the rustic ball-striking of No. 11 Sean Hunt to eventually secure a batting point.
Even here, a short hit from the trendier postcodes of Brighton, there was proof that the game doesn't exist in a time warp. The latest Sixes Social Cricket venue, where you can sink a few pints while taking aim at virtual bowlers in the indoor batting cages, has just opened at the 1st Central County Ground - replacing Tony Greig's Café beneath the Sharks Stand. With schools on holiday for Easter, gaggles of children were in attendance, displaying their affiliations to Minecraft and Brighton & Hove Albion as well as Sussex. On the wooden benches by the dressing rooms were a set of tattoos and a man-bun that would not have looked out of place in a nearby hipster coffee joint.
There were also a number of spectators wearing the Somerset dragon, perhaps keen to make the pilgrimage and see how The Sussex Cricketer has changed since their team last played a Championship match here in 2015. The local boozer by the entrance to the ground is now a glass-fronted bar beneath a multistorey residential development - but still a decent location to discuss the battles lost and won after Somerset had hauled themselves back into this contest by taking seven wickets during the afternoon session, then stumbled against the Sussex tail before wobbling to the close five down, Fynn Hudson-Prentice claiming 4 for 13 in a spell that included the dismissal of Tom Banton a week on from his record-breaking 371.
Sussex, without the services of Ollie Robinson after he sustained a foot injury in the draw against Warwickshire, opted to bat first under blemish-free blue skies and the promise of runs in the sun. Despite losing Tom Haines in the sixth over, bowled through the gate aiming a drive at Lewis Gregory, the partnership between Hughes and Clark suggested that Sussex were in the mood to back up the big scoring of their opening-round trip to Edgbaston, with a dollop of luck and some wayward bowling helping them to 122 for 1 at lunch.
Hughes, Sussex's Australian opener, looks like a cricketer from another age with his clipped moustache and classical push-drives. He was dropped at second slip on 9 by Kasey Aldridge, the Somerset allrounder then adding to his lackadaisical start with a spell of three overs that cost 23. Clark rattled along to 40 off 38 balls but the reintroduction of Gregory and Josh Davey gradually saw the visitors get a handle on the scoring, before Migael Pretorius struck in consecutive overs after the interval to remove both Sussex 49ers - Clark fiddling behind, Hughes lbw shuffling across.
With Tom Alsop nicking to slip in between, Sussex had lost three wickets in 10 balls; that became four in 32 when James Coles was caught behind aiming an expansive drive at Gregory. Hudson-Prentice rarely hinted at permanence while adding 38 in partnership with his captain, John Simpson, Aldridge eventually dispatching him with a jaffa that hit the top of off, having switched to the Cromwell Road End with good effect. Danny Lamb fell lbw three balls later as Somerset again strove to take the upper hand.
They, too, were missing the services of an England seamer, with Craig Overton rested early in Somerset's run of five matches in as many weeks. Only Davey maintained the required level of discipline on a surface that offered initial assistance before easing as the ball softened, and Sussex were able to bolster their position from 180 for 7 via half-century stands for the eighth and tenth wickets. Jack Carson looked in good touch before edging Jack Leach to slip, Simpson then falling straight after tea when spooning Davey to cover. Hunt neatly combined the benefits of old-fashioned and new-fangled by clumping 33 off as many balls before losing middle and off stumps to Gregory.
Jayden Seales had looked a thoroughly modern tailender in helping Hunt to add 52, and he swiftly proved his worth with the ball, shaping one away from Archie Vaughan to find a low outside edge that was scooped up by the diving Coles at third slip. Coles was in action again when Hudson-Prentice drew Sean Dickson into a flirt with his opening delivery, and it was two in two when Tom Abell was squared up and hit on the back leg. Hudson-Prentice then made Hove feel like Shangri-La La Land as he had Banton caught behind and nightwatcher Davey lbw to cap an enthralling day.
