Sussex
Panesar problems cloud Sussex outlook
Sussex have dealt well with the unsavoury Monty Panesar episode and will now hope to refocus on what has been a good season
Tom Huelin
22-Aug-2013
Writing about Sussex this summer has been a pleasure. It's been a good season. Our Championship form has been good, on the whole, even if our limited-overs cricket has faltered. Steve Magoffin's 12 for 31 against Somerset at Horsham sticks in the mind, as does pretty much everything Chris Jordan has done - particularly in the first half of the campaign. Lukes Wells and Wright have been excellent, whilst Ed Joyce has been just about the best batsman to watch across the country. It's also been good to see youngsters like Matt Machan and Lewis Hatchett get opportunities this year - tremendous talents both.
And yet for all the highs, the story of Monty Panesar urinating on some nightclub bouncers is what might linger in the mind, should the Championship ultimately elude us.
Reports of Panesar's indiscretion have been pretty vivid over the past week or so but with the club releasing the former Northants man from the final two years of his contract this week - and more immediately allowing him to join Essex for the remainder of this season - there are some serious points to consider as we move into the business end of the Championship season.
Full postSussex enduring wretched white ball summer
Supporters at Hove are chalking up a second limited-overs failure this season and hoping it has no knock-on effects to their Championship campaign
Tom Huelin
30-Jul-2013
Not everything in life goes to plan. I'm sure when Kate Middleton was a little girl she didn't envisage 300 journalists huddling around the hospital she was in as she gave birth to her first child. Such is life in mad, 21st century Britain.
When the county season started back in early April, many picked Sussex to win at least one of the limited overs trophies on offer. But after a wretched summer of white ball cricket Sussex are rock bottom of the South Group in the Friends Life t20, with only a solitary win to their name. Defeat to unfancied Kent recently was the final nail in a coffin that was already almost completely submerged in the dirt.
It's been a bizarre set of results for a side whose top order reads, well, that's been the problem hasn't it? We just haven't been able to settle on a fixed top order. Luke Wright has missed games with injury, club captain Ed Joyce has been rested, whilst Chris Nash, Scott Styris and Dwayne Smith have all moved up and down the batting order more frequently than Phil Hughes for Australia, without much more success. Smith in particular has struggled, his nine innings yielding 4, 21, 26 not out, 12, 5, 16, 0, 25, 1, at an average of just 13.75.
Full postSussex's intoxicating start leaves a thirst
Sussex remain unbeaten in the Championship but since their destruction of Somerset at Horsham their title challenge has lost a little impetus
Tom Huelin
28-Jun-2013
Championship-winning sides often have spells in a season when they play about as fluently as the average Englishman ordering a glass of beer in an Italian piazza.
It certainly felt like we were drunk, watching Steve Magoffin take 12 Somerset wickets for just 31 runs in mid-May - the cheapest Championship 10-for in over half a century. Somerset's appearance at the Horsham festival of cricket was brief; the game over before tea on day two.
Since that innings victory however, our title charge has slowed to something of a slow, thirsty walk through the countryside, with four consecutive draws taking us through to the Twenty20 break in second place, eight points behind leaders Yorkshire.
Full postOld friends and new boost Sussex
Dwayne Smith's return for the T20 competition is perhaps a reflection on how well Chris Jordan has settled in
Tom Huelin
11-May-2013
When an old friend comes to visit at my stage of life, it normally prompts a night out, when we try to "party" like it's 1999. As reality sets in that we can't really hack it anymore, we settle instead for some good food (cheap curry) and fine wine (Jacob's Creek). One last stab at a Jäger Bomb follows, before an overly affectionate embrace and a precarious walk home, struggling to stay on the pavement. Pretty pitiful, I'm sure you'll agree.
Dwayne Smith's return to Sussex will be somewhat classier than that, I expect, and hopefully he can help us to a night to remember at Edgbaston on August 17 - Twenty20 Finals Day.
It's a twist of fate that he's coming back to Hove at all this summer. Not so long ago, Sussex announced the signing of Australia seamer John Hastings as our second overseas player, alongside Scott Styris. With ink still wet on the deal, news came through that Hastings had injured his ankle and required surgery, ruling him out of the move. A dent in our quest to win the Twenty20 trophy this summer, we thought.
Full postJordan can boost Sussex from mediocrity
The signing of Chris Jordan gives better balance to the Sussex attack and this season could boost the county away from the mid-table mediocrity of previous years
Tom Huelin
23-Apr-2013
"Start as you mean to go on" might be a clichéd old maxim, but if Sussex's innings-and-12-run victory over Yorkshire was a statement of intent for the 2013 season, then it's one worth using here.
We obliterated Yorkshire in the first Championship match of the season at Headingley. So much so that ESPNcricinfo's Andrew McGlashan tipped us for the Division One title on the latest edition of the Switch Hit podcast. I always said he was a wise man.
Yorkshire will undoubtedly play better this season, and while bowling first in seam-friendly conditions was beneficial to our bowling attack of James Anyon, Steve Magoffin and Chris Jordan, it was still a big effort to bowl them out for under 100 - a side tipped by one David Hopps as a value bet for the Championship. They are even better value after round one.
Full postSussex going on a summer holiday
Sussex's 2013 prospects previewed by the ESPNcricinfo Supporters' Network
Tom Huelin
03-Apr-2013
With Cliff Richard and the Australian cricket team visiting the newly named "BrightonAndHoveJobs.com County Ground" this summer, and with top-level Championship cricket appearing at Horsham and Arundel again this year, 2013 promises to be an exciting one for Sussex fans. Perhaps, like Cliff, they might even imagine themselves going on a summer holiday.
Sussex have also been innovative in selecting a testimonial for the 2013 season. Instead of choosing a player, the club has instead selected two local cricket charities. With events planned throughout the season, the Sussex Cricket in the Community Trust and Sussex Cricket, Museum and Educational Trust are worthwhile causes that should benefit hugely.
Crucially, there have been changes to the playing staff. Murray Goodwin has moved to Division Two side Glamorgan, ending his stay at Hove that spanned over a decade. Goodwin was instrumental in Sussex's first Championship title in 2003 - the first in our 164-year history - and his 335 not out against Leicestershire that season will ensure Fuzz goes down as one of our all-time greats.
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