Zaib puts the Sussex attack to the sword as Northants press for victory

Sussex- 106: Robinson 49*; Berg 5-18, Sanderson 5-28 & 154-4: van Zyl 71*; Berg 2-40

Northants- 441-9 dec: Zaib 135, Rossington 87; Robinson 5-58

County Ground, Northampton

Northants lead by 181 runs.

Saif Zaib (135) and Adam Rossington (87) continued where they finished last night to put on a stunning 198-run partnership as Northants racked up 441 runs before declaring, setting Sussex 335 runs just to make them bat again.

Stiaan van Zyl (71 not out) and Ben Brown (30 not out) rebuilt following another top order collapse and put on a tidy fifth wicket partnership to keep the match alive, heading into the weekend.

Zaib’s and Rossington’s mammoth knock, which was only one run short of Northants’ record sixth wicket partnership against Sussex, pressed home the counties strong position and gave heavy punishment to the Sussex bowling attack.

Racking up a lead of 335 runs without looking under any real danger proved that there was no real gremlins within the pitch and it was good bowling, accompanied by indifferent batting that saw 15 wickets fall on day one.

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Zaib has reached what could be described as a make-or-break season for himself. With this being his sixth season on the County’s staff and having only made 23 previous appearances in all competitions, there will have been enormous pressure this campaign to turn his potential into an end-product.

Having a previous best score of 65 not out at Swansea vs Glamorgan, he finally converted a promising start into an innings to remember- laying the Sussex attack to the sword as he reached three figures, and, in partnership with his Captain, heavily contributed to earning Northants a match-deciding lead.

Zaib, resuming overnight on 66, had to see off an early barrage of short-pitched bowling from Stuart Meaker, who toiled away for 21 overs, leaving wicketless.

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Whilst short in stature, Zaib was able to ride the bounce and continually get on top of the ball, nullifying the pace of the former Surrey seamer. The young left-hander continued to manipulate the field, ticking off the runs and building the lead, bringing up his century off his 176^th delivery, slashing a late cut through the vacant slip region to the boundary off Delray Rawlins.

Zaib had batted positively throughout his innings, but once he had reached three figures for his first time at first-class level, he played with extra freedom and carved 24 off the next two overs.

His innings was finally concluded on the stroke of the lunch interval another attempted slog-sweep was mistimed and his failure to contact the ball saw him depart LBW to Rawlins for 135, off 202 deliveries, striking 15 fours.

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Rossington, who was earlier struck on his right hand off the bowling of Stuart Meaker, had battled through the pain to score 87, falling short of his century after being caught by Travis Head, miscuing a pull off the bowling of debutant Joe Sarro, earning the fresh-faced seamer a second wicket of the innings.

Having had to remain sidelined for the previous two matches with a hand injury, luckily the blow he took was on the opposite glove and was fine to continue the rest of the match.

Rossington who is a powerful hitter by trade, played within himself, ticking off the runs in singles as well as seven fours, two of which were gloriously timed cover drives.

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Only eight balls later there was at last some positives for Sussex to take out of the game, as Ollie Robinson collected his five-for, strangling the left-handed Wayne Parnell (0) down the legside, having his man caught behind without scoring.

Robinson could and probably should have had his second five-for of the season but for abject fielding. Rossington was dropped at second slip in only the third over of the morning by Aaron Thomason, and it was their fourth drop in the slips in the innings over the two days, something that the England prospect was not best pleased about.

As Northants found themselves in such a commanding position, it gave batsmen Tom Taylor (44 not out) and Gareth Berg (38) the chance to progress the score, which they did without any real signs of danger, striking several lusty blows before Berg fell attempting a big heave.

Not long after the fall of the ninth wicket fell the declaration came, giving the hosts a well deserved 335-run lead.

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It did not take long for the dependable duo who were responsible for all of the first-innings chaos to get into full-swing again, taking two early wickets and removing both openers inside the first nine overs.

Tom Haines (18) was the first to depart, edging Berg to second slip and the waiting grasp of Taylor. It has been a miserable match for the 22-year-old talented left-hander, ending a run of four matches where he has passed 50 in either innings.

Entering this game, Haines had scored 474 runs from only eight innings to begin the 2021 campaign, so he will be hoping to get back in the runs next game, when his side host Kent, starting on 13^th May.

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On the stroke of the Tea interval, it became six wickets apiece for Northants fast bowling pair as Ben Sanderson collected his first of the second innings, seeing Aaron Thomason (7) snared at fourth slip by Ben Curran.

With both bowlers sharing the wickets and seemingly in full flow, both sets of match-best figures looked increasingly under threat.

Gareth Berg’s career best match figures return sits at 7/45 whilst his bowling partner Sanderson has 10/55, and it only took one over of the final session for the 40-year-old to equal his best.

Berg, in an attempt to tuck up Head, saw a short-ball under-edged behind to the waiting Rossington to take the simple catch, dismissing the Australian international for eight.

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Sussex’s misery continued and Northants’ pursuit for a two-day victory gained further momentum in the 17^th over, after Sanderson picked up his seventh of the match, levelling his tally with Berg’s.

A beautiful bail-trimmer saw the undoing of Tom Clark (13), the left-hander being sent back to the pavilion with the score making terrible reading for the visitors, 68-4 and trailing 267 runs.

However, from the moment that Clark’s wicket fell, his replacement to the crease, Ben Brown (30 not out), formed a healthy and determined partnership with Stiaan van Zyl (71 not out) adding an additional 86 runs and gaining some respectability back to today’s scorecard.

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Brown, the visiting wicketkeeper Captain, showed a real steely-mannerism in his defence, doggedly survived the potent Northants bowling-attack, digging in and facing 80 balls for his 30.

Able to leave the ball well outside his off stump, the 32-year-old frustrated the bowlers and drew them onto his pads, which he could then lean on and angle away for singles.

His partner, van Zyl, was watchful in defence whilst also punishing any delivery overpitched, crunching drives through the covers and back past the bowler.

The 33-year-old former South African Test batsman showed all his experience whilst wickets fell around him to not get drawn into playing any loose shots, despite Northants trying all they could to break the frustrating resistance shown by Brown and van Zyl.

With the hosts in desperate search for wickets knowing the inclement weather expected for the following two days, Rossington chopped and changed his attack, rotating his four other bowlers when Berg and Sanderson were not operating in tandem. Northants will be desperately hoping the weather is fair and nothing like the forecast, so their efforts can be given appropriately rewarded.

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