By Christopher Lyles at Hove
First day of four: Sussex (23-0) trail Somerset (330) by 307 runs
AFTER inviting Warwickshire to bat in the previous match at Hove, Chris Adams could only watch as the visitors put on a record 272 runs for the first wicket. So it may have been with mixed feelings yesterday when he lost the toss and found himself in the field again.
But a combination of some fine seam bowling, from Jason Lewry and James Kirtley in particular, and some inconsistent Somerset batting meant that Sussex just about gained the upper hand on a benevolent medium-paced pitch where any assistance to the bowlers soon disappeared.
But by that stage the visitors had been reduced to 46 for four as Kirtley celebrated the award of his county cap by breaching the defences of Piran Holloway and Richard Harden. The latter was also Kirtley's 100th first-class victim.
Thereafter Mark Lathwell and Rob Turner shared a superlative fifth-wicket stand of 181 in only 44 overs as they took advantage of some loose bowling and a life each to take the score past 200.
Adams dropped Lathwell when the Devonian had made 33 and Turner survived a difficult late side chance to Shaun Humphries when he had scored 32. The Somerset wicketkeeper went on to record his first century of the season made from only 145 balls and Sussex, who by the close had reached 23 without loss, may yet regret their dropped chances.
Day 2: Adams puts Sussex in command
By Christopher Lyles at Hove
Second day of four: Sussex (326-3) trail Somerset (330) by 4 runs
REJUVENATED Sussex are well placed to secure their fourth championship victory of the season, which would be four times more than in the whole of last season.
Central to their progress yesterday was a spanking innings by their imported captain, Chris Adams, who scored his third century of the season in just 123 balls.
Adams came to the crease in only the fifth over of the day after both openers had fallen cheaply and another two or three quick wickets at that stage would have handed the initiative to Somerset. Adams and Mark Newell began watchfully in the face of some tight bowling by Andrew Caddick especially. Caddick, awarded a benefit next year, bowled without much luck on a pitch affording little help, though he did cause Adams to play and miss several times.
Newell's uncharacteristically restrained innings was a perfect foil for his captain's buccaneering effort. The pair put on 165 in 42 overs before Adams was caught behind trying to smash Adrian Pierson through the off side. He lived a little dangerously from time to time but his square-driving was exceptional and his innings included 16 fours and a violent pull for six off Caddick.
Newell and Michael Bevan did not fritter the good work of their captain as they put together an unbeaten 131 for the fourth wicket with little trouble before bad light halted play with 14 overs still to be bowled. By that time Newell had reached his own deserved century, made in five hours and including eight boundaries.
Somerset did not bowl badly, though they missed the variety of Mushtaq Ahmed, on compassionate leave in Pakistan with his pregnant wife. But they will need to find some inspiration from somewhere.
Day 3: Bevan in tune on a perfect pitch
By Christopher Lyles at Hove
Somerset (330 & 92-1) trail Sussex (493) by 71 runs
SUSSEX will be second in the championship table tonight if they can press home their first-innings advantage over Somerset. Not bad for a team that finished bottom of the heap last time around. But the visitors, batting with greater determination in their second innings, will hope to salvage a draw on a pitch that is a batman's paradise.
One of the recent arrivals became the third Sussex centurion in two days. Michael Bevan, who has been dismissed only once in his last three innings for 366 runs, batted in such a controlled and unperturbed manner that he could have been picking berries.
The left-hander played each ball on its merits, pushing the ones and twos and despatching the occasional bad ball to the boundary. In all he faced 271 balls and hit 14 fours and a six.
Bevan received varying degrees of support from the middle and lower order after the unflagging Graham Rose had finally ended Mark Newell's accomplished vigil. Robin Martin-Jenkins played an enterprising cameo of an innings before Andrew Caddick ended the innings with two wickets in two balls.
Somerset bowled with great discipline and no little determination and their efforts were no better typified than by Andre van Troost. The Dutchman, not always noted for his tight control, did not take a wicket, but how his vastly improved performance deserved one.
Day 4: Pierson strikes blow for rabbits
By Rob Steen
Final day of four: Sussex v Somerset
REPUTATIONS? Pah. Adrian Pierson, ostensibly a nightwatchman, steadfastly refused to leave his sentry box yesterday, his maiden century - the sixth and most unexpected of a turgid match - denying Sussex the win that would have lifted them to second in the championship table and striking a mighty blow for rabbits everywhere.
It was not, it must be said, an aesthetically pleasing sight. Legs splayed, nose thrust over every delivery as if intoxicated by the smell of leather, the lanky Pierson could easily have been mistaken for a stick insect with backache.
Yet there was nothing brittle about the off-spinner's temperament. Only when James Kirtley peppered him with bouncers was he discomfited, although this richly promising fast bowler would have been better advised to pitch the ball up and take advantage of his target's baseball-type backlift.
Days like this tend to expose the limitations of a captain as well as his charges. On a pitch that might conceivably have done something untoward this side of August, the task of dismissing Somerset, who resumed 71 behind with nine wickets intact, was always going to be tricky.
Imagination was paramount, not to mention a firm grasp of the nuances of psychological warfare. One had only to recall Brian Lara's ingenuity at Port of Spain in March to realise what can be done to keep the batsmen guessing. England may ultimately have won that Test, but the constant bowling changes, especially the ruse of giving Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose one-over bursts, sowed sufficient seeds of doubt to make it an engrossing struggle. On this evidence, Chris Adams would appear not to have been watching.
The closest approximation to drama yesterday came with Peter Bowler's exit shortly before lunch for a characteristically painstaking and invaluable century. Adjudged caught behind off Mark Robinson, the Somerset captain clearly felt he had been grievously wronged; bat was pounded into turf, gloves ripped off theatrically, pavilion gate slapped with arm guard. Conversely, it could be that he simply did not trust his batsmen to complete the job. He need not have fretted.
As the contest waned, Pierson waxed. Defying a blow to his left hand, he unfurled the shot of the day, dropping on one knee to hit Michael Bevan through the covers; the Chinese cut that saw him outstrip his career-best of 71 was anything but typical.
By then, he had already left the previous highest score this season by a Somerset No 3 trailing in his wake - and that 21 came courtesy of Mushtaq Ahmed, hardly the world's most natural first drop.
How galling it must have been for Richard Harden, the man usually entrusted with the role, to see Pierson outscore him two to one from almost the same number of balls. So much for the Trade Descriptions Act.