The Middlesex Cricket D40 First XI returned to winning ways on Sunday, when they beat Sussex by 79 runs at the picturesque Ansty Cricket Club.
Captain James Nordin won the toss and elected to bat, which looked to be the right call after a comfortable first ten overs. Maddox Colby and Aryan Janjale put on 102 for the first wicket, with the latter falling for 31 after impressing at the top of the order.
What was to follow was completely different, with, Ferguson, the Sussex second-change bowler, proving to be an extremely difficult challenge to face. He claimed four wickets for just one run in the space of seven balls in an exceptional spell – and ended with 5/19.
One batter who was able to survive, however, was Colby, who reached his first Middlesex half-century from 68 balls, hitting 8 fours before the milestone.
He was joined by Farooq Mohammed at 141/8, which was a stark contrast to 127/1 just a few overs before, until eventually departing for a very well-constructed 61.
Some late boundaries from Mohammed and Haroon Rashid took the Middlesex innings up to 194 all out, a useful score to try and defend.
Nordin and Mohammed took the new Middlesex ball and used it to great effect, restricting the home side to 30/5 in the eleventh over. The bowlers were superbly backed up in the field – including an exceptional slip catch from Sam Kumar to dismiss the Sussex number four. Nordin finished with figures of 4 for 18 from 8 overs, whilst Farooq ended with 1 for 15 from 6 overs.
Sussex’s numbers 6 and 7 then put up a solid rearguard action, keeping out everything that the Middlesex bowlers tried as they went about repairing the damage. Their partnership was finally broken by a bit of skill in the field, with a combination of Matthew Jones, Zak Spears, and Elliot Brown picking up a run-out with the batters attempting a single.
As Sussex crept towards 100, Jones came into the attack with great affect. He proceeded to take the final four wickets of the host’s innings, including a caught and bowled, to finish with 4 wickets for 25 from 6.5 overs. The game ended with a stumping for Brown with Sussex reaching 115, 79 runs short of the target.
We’d like to give a huge thank you to everyone at Ansty CC for their hospitality throughout the day. Meanwhile, the D40 First Eleven remain second in the D40 Quest league after three wins and a loss, narrowly behind leaders Hampshire. They have two matches left in the campaign, both at home, against Lancashire and Surrey, later in the month.
