The Liverpudlian cracked 53 in the day-night showdown against the Red Rose county.

But it wasn't quite enough as Lancashire won a keenly fought contest by ten runs. Birkenhead-born Carpenter said: "Cheshire is my home county, but Lancashire is my home First Class county. "When I was 16 I had a few nets with them up at Old Trafford, but nothing developed. "was desperate for us to win and that's why it was extra disappointing for me not to see us through." All-rounder Carpenter, who played soccer for Everton as a schoolboy and rugby for Cheshire, added: "It was nice to get a few runs so early on in the season, but we lost the game rather than them winning it." Lancashire's former England bowler Peter Martin took the man of the match award with 4-22 as Sussex, replying to 201-6, reached 191-8. It was their sixth AXA League defeat in a row after finishing bottom last season, when they were toothless under the banner of the Tigers. Renamed the Sharks but branded 50-1 no-hopers by the bookies, they showed much more bite last night, although Lancashire were weakened by injuries. Chief executive Tony Pigott was satisfied with an attendance of 3,000 on a chilly evening and he doesn't expect the county to make a loss on the match, despite forking out 30,000 on the floodlights. "With the weather around at the moment I was quite pleased," he said. "The spectators had wooly hats and scarves on, but the atmopshere was fantastic and everybody had a good time. "It has been a great start to the season for us. The Championship victory against Lancashire was everything we needed and we performed very well in this match to compete with one of the top counties in the country." Jason Lewry was sidelined by a thigh strain, but he should be fit for the Championship match against Essex at Chelmsford, starting tomorrow.

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