11 hours Ago
When you have waited almost ten years for a top-flight win, what difference does an extra hour or two make? Sussex kept us waiting a bit longer than they might have done as they beat Somerset in their opening Rothesay County Championship division one home game. Five dropped catches in less than two sessions on the final day, which they started needing six more wickets, saw to that. But those failings might, actually, have had a silver lining.
They gave Paul Farbrace something to focus on soon after the 260-run success had been secured at approaching 4pm on Monday. Sean Hunt, so impressive with the ball throughout the first three days, put down a simple-looking return chance late on Sunday which cost him a five-for in the second innings and a ten-for in the match. But it was missed chances on day four, getting easier as they went on, which were the one dampener on a highly impressive performance against a aide who have chased the title.
Farbrace told his team soon after the game that they can improve. And it turns out they seemed to agree. Farbrace said: “We are not going to get carried away and we have just had a few words of discussion about how we go about things.
“We know we can keep improving and getting better. “We have got an awful long way to go yet.” Asked what the mood was like among his squad, Farbrace told The Argus: “None of them disagreed with me when we have just spoken.
“That is one thing we try to do every game. Whether we win, lose or draw, is we have a very honest conversation about where we are as a team “We have still got a lot of people who want to learn and get better and improve and that is really important. “When you have got John Simpson and Daniel Hughes and the age and experience that they are at, talking about how you want to keep improving, that is what you have your senior players for.
“They set good standards and they won’t accept people taking their foot off the gas. “It is not being critical, it is just saying, ‘Let’s be honest’. “It’s.
‘Let’s not kid ourselves, let’s not come off the field, pat ourselves on the back and say everything is great’. “Yes, 90% of it was very good but 10% of it wasn’t so let’s make sure we keep polishing up that extra 10%.” Sussex might just have taken some people by surprise in their opening fixtures against Warwickshire and Somerset.
But Farbrace knows the tests will keep on coming. He said: “Two games in, eight days of cricket and we have done okay. “It is important we take confidence from that but we must also learn from the other teams.
“There is no more getting through two bowlers and then having maybe an easier spell. “You look at the quality of seam bowling the first two teams have had against us, and then the spinners come on and they are high-quality spinners. “There are no freebies in division one.
“You have got to work hard in everything you do and that is something we have got to make sure we keep doing in every session.”.
