Title hangover

Mushtaq appeals © Getty Images

After the unexpected wonders of 2003, anticlimax was perhaps inevitable. The coach Peter Moores had fears that Hove's newest arrival, expectation, would take its toll: they were not confounded.

Among that Championship-winning top order only Chris Adams's average did not wither. Eyeing Arthur Gilligan's record eight-season tenure, the skipper was the county's top performer in the first-class lists, in 47th place; only Durham failed to supply a loftier finisher. Once that early purple patch was over, even Ian Ward waned.

Division One's lowest total - 106 against Gloucestershire at Arundel - was not entirely undeserved. That the summer's best collective batting exhibition came in defeat - a National one-runner chasing Leicestershire's 324 - said it all.

That every bowler's Frizzell strike rate declined was no less symptomatic: Mohammad Akram added zip but James Kirtley, having spent spring warming his bottom on the England bench, did not hit third gear until July. Mushtaq Ahmed, the nation's leading wicket-taker thanks to 57 strikes at 23 apiece in the second half, was the only flinger to perform up to scratch, though he might not be that pleased to see his youthful compatriot, Danish Kaneria, higher up the averages. Unusually, although defeats again outnumbered wins, there was compensation in the abbreviated format. With Matt Prior and Robin Martin-Jenkins to the fore, there was even a seven-match unbeaten trot in late summer. One more run against Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, indeed, and the promotion bubbly would have flowed. The sound of grown men kicking themselves may echo for some time.

Player of the Year: Mushtaq Ahmed
High: Hello Luke Wright
Low: 10-wicket defeat by Lancs in first home CC game

This article was first published in the November issue of The Wisden Cricketer.
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