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Day 1: Peirce patience pays

Neville Scott

Sussex 332-5 v Middlesex

Even by today's standards, with over a fifth of current players having at some stage switched counties, Sussex's turnover has been breathless. Of 17 men who appeared more than once for them as recently as 1996, all but two have now gone.

It was Toby Peirce, however, a second XI debutant at 16 and the longest nurtured of home products, who stamped himself with monumental patience on most of yesterday's play.

His latest captain, Chris Adams, who thundered past 41 for the first time in an ominously quiet summer and reached an exhilarating, unbeaten 98 from just 151 balls, offered the innings to remember. But Peirce, rarely applauded, set it up.

Opening and holding an end through 85 overs, he was caught behind trying to dab wide of slip for the two runs needed for the third century of his career.

These two, and Richard Montgomerie (69), with whom Peirce shared his third first-wicket century stand in eight starts, made most of an utterly benign pitch which Middlesex's main attack, short of Angus Fraser and Richard Johnson, never roused from slumber.

Montgomerie, crease-bound to a full ball, and Michael Di Venuto, sweeping, fell lbw earlier. But Owais Shah's occasional seam-up disposed of Tony Cottey and Robin Martin-Jenkins in the last 40 minutes.

Day 2: Ramprakash dashes

Neville Scott

Middx (155-3) trail Sussex (430) by 275 runs

Inspectors have already this season assessed strips at Nottingham, Manchester and Worcester. Were they to be called to Lord's it would presumably be to pronounce the pitch not dangerous but clinically dead.

The fact that all but two of eight men out were bowled or lbw says much. The ball's failure to bounce or carry meant that batting error, more than bowling ability, was likely to bring a wicket.

With partner Umer Rashid gone early, Chris Adams, dropped on 116, might have given Tim Bloomfield two scalps, and Middlesex a third point, in the first seven overs. When he fell an hour later, pulling over one which kept low, he had added 130 to scores of 170, 136 and 125 off Middlesex in three years.

After the tail's amble, Justin Langer went lbw playing no stroke to that oddity, a ball which cut back, as the reply's long haul to tea began.

A static Mike Roseberry went lbw, and Owais Shah caught behind to the medium pacers. If batsmen share some blame for the crawl, it took all Mark Ramprakash's rare skill to produce 10 fours in his superb 68 by the close.

Day 3: Sussex glad to see the back of Ramprakash

Neville Scott

Middlesex (233 & 249-3) lead Sussex (430) by 52 runs

It is a good bet that, had captains been offered a single English batsman to fight for them when replying after 149 overs in the field or following on 197 runs behind, they would opt in droves for Mark Ramprakash.

His dismissals, in a morning collapse for 81 and again 20 minutes after tea for 59, have shifted the game sharply towards Sussex.

After the equivalent in all of a day at the crease with barely an error on a low, cramping pitch where 17 out of 23 wickets have fallen lbw or bowled, Ramprakash was undone by a James Kirtley ball which nipped back under his cut.

Earlier, beneath heavy, dark cloud from overnight storms which transformed the game's pattern, he tried to force away a Mark Robinson outswinger and fell at second slip. With Robinson and Kirtley keeping excellent control, the swinging ball removed Middlesex's last seven wickets for 61, two of them to negligible bounce.

Following on in afternoon sunshine, life was different. But discretion remained critical and an ambitious Justin Langer drive saw him play on and Mike Roseberry fatally failed to get forward to Chris Adams's medium pace.

It was Robin Martin- Jenkins' bad luck to save a series of superb balls for Ramprakash in a wicketless pre-tea spell before coming in for later punishment from Owais Shah, who fought impressively with Paul Weekes to the late close.

Day 4: Sussex on crest of wave

Neville Scott

It has been an excellent eight days for Sussex, who, after achieving their historic 455 for eight batting last to beat Gloucestershire the previous Saturday, continued towards a second successive victory, over Middlesex, yesterday.

Not bad for a side with the unenviable record before the game, measured in runs per wicket claimed, of the championship's least penetrative attack of the year so far. Admittedly they have bowled on some very unresponsive pitches, such as this typically sterile strip of woefully low bounce, but to take two wins without Jason Lewry would be high success.

Lewry, the left-arm swing bowler forced out of England's A tour with a shoulder injury and arguably Sussex's key performer, expects to return on Wednesday for his first appearance since an operation.

His colleagues will doubtless kid him otherwise, but, honestly and committedly though they bowled, their dominance at Lord's owed much to winning the toss and even more to the single session before lunch on Friday when the ball suddenly swung under dark clouds and Middlesex's last seven wickets crashed for 61 runs.

Without that violent shift in a tepid game, Middlesex would almost certainly not have followed on: Friday's frantic morning aside, their remaining match batting brought 513 runs for 13 wickets lost.

Seven of these fell rather limply yesterday as the hosts, 52 runs on at 249 for three overnight, were bowled out 33 minutes before tea, leaving Sussex 162 to win in 43 overs. This despite reprieves at first slip for Jamie Hewitt when he had made 10 of his 49, and last man Tim Bloomfield, which should have given James Kirtley a five-wicket bag. The wholehearted Kirtley deserved better.

Middlesex's display, with four men going to loose drives and wafts, may seem rather redolent of last year. Then, with the arrival of the Queenslander John Buchanan as coach in a move which confused the Middlesex role of captain, the side lost all purpose and push.

For those accustomed to excellent club stewardship - and to seven championships and eight other top-four finishes in the previous 22 years - this proved too much. The 1999 County Annual contains an editorial of quite remarkable trenchancy.

These publications run, in the main, to phrases of ``the lads had a difficult August'' banality. This piece, written by David Kendix, an occasional England scorer and sometime World Cup Duckworth-Lewis expert, was more acute by far.

``Who decided to appoint the coach and why? Why were his methods thought likely to work in the packed schedule of county cricket? What were his terms of reference and were they explained? How much did it all cost? What steps have been taken to stop this happening again?''

Though this raised violent hackles in certain quarters, leading to an attempted ban on the offending page, it was to the eternal credit of the committee's liberal wing that the piece still appeared uncut.

Middlesex certainly fought well to tea with Simon Cook removing both Sussex openers in his first 11 balls - each lbw, tellingly, like 14 others in the match, as deliveries continued to keep low.