Sussex opener Luke Wells digs in to frustrate Yorkshire seam attack

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jun/16/sussex-yorkshire-county-championship

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They have seen a few hard-bitten opening batsmen in Yorkshire down the years so there would have been quiet admiration among the big contingent of their supporters on the grass bank at the Castle Ground for the cussed way Luke Wells defied their probing seam attack for much of an absorbing opening day.

The left-hander defied the discomfort of a side strain to hold Sussex’s brittle batting together for two sessions in making 74 before the tail wagged furiously to take the hosts to 300 for nine. The situation was perfect for someone with Wells’ phlegmatic temperament, prepared to go long periods without scoring as a slow pitch and accurate seam attack yielded runs grudgingly.

Ironically, Wells had just started to blossom, particularly against the off-spin of Azeem Rafiq, when his patient vigil ended to the penultimate ball before tea. Andrew Gale had posted four men in the batsman’s line of vision on the off side no more than 15 yards from the bat. Coach Jason Gillespie calls it the “Yorkshire Wall” and attempting to drive through it when Richard Pyrah pitched one up, Wells got a thin edge behind.

Tall, gangly and with a mop of ginger hair it’s not hard to see why Wells, by his own admission, is the most sledged player on the county circuit. He survived three lbw appeals before reaching double figures and then, on 53, was nearly caught in the deep by Jack Brooks. His reaction on each occasion was to wander solemnly towards square leg, compose himself again, and get his head back down.

How Sussex needed him. They had only passed 300 twice in their last nine Championship innings and a brittle top order was exposed after lunch when Yorkshire’s disciplined attack finally got their rewards. Tim Bresnan picked up two wickets in five balls, including skipper Ed Joyce for a duck, and Pyrah, Steve Patterson and Brooks were all rewarded for maintaining a consistent off-stump line. Having said that, too many Sussex batsmen played at balls they could have left.

After an hour of careful reconnaissance, Wells’ opening partner Chris Nash chased at Patterson’s first-ball loosener and although Sussex reached 103 at lunch without further loss, Yorkshire exerted control in the afternoon.

Like Nash, Rory Hamilton-Brown seemed to have done the hard yards, batting well outside of his crease to negate the swing before he launched Rafiq for six. But on 45 he edged a delivery from Bresnan which swung late and in his next over Bresnan claimed the prized scalp of Joyce. The Sussex captain has made four hundreds this season but it appears to be famine or feast for him at the moment. Pushing forward, he edged behind for his second successive Championship duck.

Luke Wright kept Wells company for a while before he was drawn forward to the fourth ball of a new spell by Brooks while Matt Machan was caught at backward point to give Patterson, who had bowled without luck for over an hour after lunch, a belated but deserved wicket. Pyrah then struck twice, first claiming Ben Brown and then Wells, who batted for a shade over four hours, faced 182 balls and hit 11 boundaries. At 188 for seven Sussex might not have got one batting point but James Tredwell and later Jon Lewis supervised some effective resistance by the lower order after tea.

Tredwell is on loan for a month to play Championship cricket, a format he has had little exposure to in the last year because of his England one-day commitments and, domestically, the emergence at Kent of Adam Riley. It remains to be seen what sort of impact he can make with the ball but, as a record of three first-class centuries and an average of 22 attests, he is a handy lower-order batsman. Here he played strongly on both sides of the wicket, particularly square, as he added 39 for the ninth wicket with Steve Magoffin.

He fell leg before for 45 to Bresnan immediately after Yorkshire had taken the new ball but Lewis swung merrily to reach a 53-ball half-century in the final over which took Sussex to an unexpected third batting point.