Four Sussex batsmen made half-centuries at Cheltenham yesterday but no one went on to make the sort of score which would have turned a good day for the county into a great one.

Struggling Gloucestershire, crippled by injuries and facing almost certain relegation from division one, are there for the taking and after scoring 365 and then removing Kadeer Ali Sussex would have been satisfied with their first day's work.

But the suspicion was that they missed an opportunity to put Gloucestershire out of contention already.

Chris Adams won a crucial toss because batting last on a pitch which was turning sharply after just an hour yesterday is going to be a hazardous business with Mushtaq Ahmed anticipating rich pickings and off-spinner Mark Davis desperate to get his Championship campaign up and running.

A parched, lightning-quick outfield and small square boundaries make batting on the College ground an even more inviting prospect but no one made more than Adams's 66 although Carl Hopkinson, Murray Goodwin and Matt Prior all threatened to.

Sussex have injury problems of their own with Ian Ward, Jason Lewry and Luke Wright sidelined but they are nothing compared to Gloucestershire's casualty list. Skipper Chris Taylor, his deputy Craig Spearman and England one-day bowler Jonathan Lewis are among those missing and their problems worsened when their best seamer Steve Kirby, who only passed a fitness test on his sore ankle before play, hobbled off with a thigh strain halfway through his fifth over.

Mind you, it looked like a blessing in disguise when Ian Fisher, brought on to complete the over, tempted Richard Montgomerie to drive a long hop straight to extra cover with his second ball.

He was not the only Sussex batsmen to make the long walk back wondering just how he has managed to get himself out.

Mike Yardy stumbled in midpitch when he was sent back by Hopkinson and just failed to make his ground in time and Goodwin, who had played Gloucestershire's three spinners with ease, was in danger of breaking his bat from banging it into his pad in sheer frustration after missing a sweep off leg spinner Malinga Bandara shortly after lunch.

Goodwin had contributed 51 in a third wicket stand of 85 with Hopkinson, pulling Martyn Ball for six and scoring seven other boundaries.

Hopkinson has increasingly looked the part in his makeshift role at the top of the order since Ward's injury and yesterday was another milestone in the 23-yearold's development.

Prepared to settle for watchful defence for long periods, he still managed to hit ten boundaries in his second fifty of the season including a clip through midwicket which even Goodwin applauded at the other end. He had a big reprieve on 48 when Steve Adshead missed the easiest of stumpings but recovered to lodge his first Championship half-century before Bandara trapped him in his crease.

Not surprisingly the most entertaining batting came from Adams and Prior - Sussex's answer to Pietersen and Flintoff. Prior quickly overtook his captain, knocking one startled spectator's ice cream out of his hand with a six off Ball as he raced to a run-a-ball half-century, his fourth of the season. It was starting to look ominous for Gloucestershire, but after they added 75 in 15 overs Prior swiped to long leg to give rookie seamer Will Rudge his first Championship wicket.

Adams struck four boundaries in succession off Fisher on his way to his eighth fifty of the season before Bandara lured him out of his crease and Adshead whipped the bails off. It looked a desperately close call, but umpire John Steele gave the bowler the benefit of the doubt. Adams could hardly believe it and stood his ground for several seconds.

The story of what might have been continued after tea. Rana Naved and Robin Martin-Jenkins both perished hitting against the spin and Davis and Mushtaq spooned up tame catches to cover, although not until after they had earned Sussex a third batting point.

Rana, bowling a consistent length to give the ball every chance of swinging, made the breakthrough in his second over when Kadeer Ali touched an away-swinger and Sussex's three seamers proved there was something in the pitch for the quicks.

Thursday, August 11, 2005