Intriguing first day as Yorkshire CCC battle hard against Sussex at Hove

The sea air had an invigorating influence, partially at least, as Yorkshire, at one point, had the upper hand.

Come day’s end, Sussex, who had been wobbling after losing two quick wickets after lunch to slip to 124-4 after choosing to bat, had moved to 275-5, the cotton-wool clouds of earlier having given way to overcast conditions, bad light thieving the last 17 overs.

The architects of Sussex’s recovery, if not quite prosperity, for their score is not yet in that region, were Tom Alsop and Oli Carter, who shared 94 following that wobble.

Yorkshire got Alsop but, if one pardons the term, they were unable to “get Carter”, who finished unbeaten on 60 from 121 balls with eight fours, the 21-year-old ‘keeper playing with maturity.

Alsop top-scored with 95 from 152 balls with 14 fours but it was a somewhat scratchy 95, with several inside-edged boundaries or slices behind.

Of course, no one travels to within five runs of a century without playing some good shots too, and the 27-year-old left-hander did that in a busy display, one that built on a fine campaign last year.

For Yorkshire, much may depend on the second new ball, due after one more over, after they did not use the first as well as they wanted.

Sussex got off to something of a flyer, openers Ali Orr and Tom Haines proceeding at a run-a-ball before being pegged back by Jordan Thompson, who broke the stand at 48 in the 12th over when Orr, trying to pull, somehow skewed the ball off the back of his bat to Fin Bean in the slips.

Hence why Thompson is known as “the man who makes things happen”, a slightly tacky sobriquet but accurate nonetheless.

He made them happen again after lunch when Cheteshwar Pujara, the Sussex captain and former Yorkshire player, was leg-before one ball after padding up to Thompson and just about getting away with that one.

In the next over, the 38th of the innings, Sussex fell to that dicey 124-4 position when Ben Coad bowled Tom Clark through the gate and toppled off stump.

Earlier, Dom Bess had nipped in with the pre-lunch scalp of Haines, lbw for 48, who was so dischuffed at the umpire’s decision that he walked off with his hands on his head in an almost comical show of dissent.

One hopes that the Cricket Discipline Commission, if the matter ever gets that far, are more lenient on him than they have been on certain others in recent weeks.

But this was cricket at glorious Hove - who wants to talk about that inglorious nonsense anymore?

A decent crowd looked on from the outer, including a good number of visiting supporters, who saw the fifth and final wicket fall straight after tea when George Hill, bowling his first over of the day, struck with his second delivery - a long-hop which Alsop, his head perhaps still in the dressing room, pulled straight down the throat of deep mid-wicket.

Alsop stood mortified, while Hill stood embarrassed; perhaps they should start calling Hill “the man who makes things happen” as well.

It was a quiet day for Saud Shakeel, the Pakistan batsman on debut, but a busier one for Mickey Edwards, the Australian fast bowler also making his first Yorkshire appearance.

Edwards’s figures - 14-0-54-0 - were unremarkable and perhaps betrayed understandable rustiness, but he was unlucky not to pick up a couple of wickets in an opening spell in which he charged down the hill with purpose from the Cromwell Road end.

Twice in successive deliveries Alsop inside-edged him to the boundary, when the ball could so easily have cannoned into the stumps, and then Haines had an identical stroke of fortune in Edwards’s next over.

At that stage, even the apparently genial Edwards, a smile never far from his face, might have been compelled to utter a phrase not dissimilar to “clucking bell”.

Conditions were not particularly suited to him here - the fast pitches of the summer are still some way off, and this one did not have much pace and movement.

But one saw enough to see why Yorkshire have taken a punt on Edwards, a gamble that they hope will bear fruit in the weeks and months ahead.

Prior to the game, Yorkshire posted a photograph of Edwards and Shakeel, standing side-by-side on the outfield at Hove, arms around one another in brotherly fashion.

The contrast between them could not be greater - Edwards, powerful and six-feet plenty; Shakeel slender and five-feet nothing, proof that good things come in packages both large and small.