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Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo wants to do what “no Bangladesh team has done” in South Africa: score a first ODI series win.”We have definitely come here as underdogs, having not won a game here before,” Domingo, who is in South Africa with Bangladesh for the first time since taking up the top job in 2019, said. “But we are confident in our one-day side. We have played well in this format for a long period of time. Players understand their roles. We are expecting a competitive series.Related

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“But South Africa, who beat India 3-0 recently, will definitely start as favourites. They are playing in their own conditions where they are a tough side to beat. They will start as favourites, but that suits us coming as underdogs. It gives us a great opportunity to do something special. We want to do something that no Bangladesh team has done here before.”Having served as South Africa’s head coach from 2013 to 17, Domingo is well-placed to analyse the two teams and the conditions in South Africa. He felt that the three-match series would be closely fought between South Africa, who are superior on paper, and the current World Cup Super League table-toppers, Bangladesh, who have ten wins from 15 matches.”Both [top-order batters and pacers] have crucial roles to play,” he said. “We know their bowling attack is dangerous. We have to do well in the first 20 overs. If our fast bowlers can pick up early wickets, it will put them under pressure.”Domingo said that with Shakib Al Hasan present in South Africa, Bangladesh might be able to turn their fortunes around, having lost all 19 ODIs they have played in the country in the past.Shakib was initially rested by the BCB when he had said he wasn’t mentally and physically fit to play. But the allrounder had a change of heart later and has since joined his team-mates.”[Shakib] balances our team. It is always difficult when he is not in the team – you are not sure if you need an extra bowler or extra batsman,” Domingo said. “It is great to have a player of his calibre around. He is experienced. He has been here before. He is a world-class player. We are very happy that he is on the tour. His energy, attitude and work ethic has been fantastic.”Before he left Dhaka, Domingo had expressed concern over the team’s catching. In the recent series against Afghanistan, Bangladesh had dropped several chances and there are still question marks over the team’s ability to adjust to conditions in Centurion and Johannesburg, where the three ODIs are scheduled to take place.”It will be no more difficult than anywhere else,” he said. “Whether you are fielding here, in New Zealand or Bangladesh, a ball is a ball. You have to catch it. Obviously, there’s a bit of altitude here. The ball travels a bit quicker. There’s no major difference between catching here and catching in Bangladesh.”

Adam Lyth and Dimuth Karunaratne shared an opening partnership of 73 as Yorkshire seized control of their LV= Insurance County Championship game against Northamptonshire.The pair quickly built on their side’s first-innings advantage of 92 at Wantage Road, having bowled Northamptonshire out for 204 as rookie all-rounder Matthew Revis and off-spinner Dom Bess shone with the ball.Revis – who began his career as an opening bat – took 3 for 45, his best first-class performance, while Bess tied up one end for most of the afternoon, returning miserly figures of 2 for 31 from 22 overs.Emilio Gay produced some classy shots to top-score with 65, but Northamptonshire were unable to contain their opponents in the final session, with Lyth extending the White Rose lead to 177 as they closed on 85 for 1.Despite losing nightwatchman Matt Kelly – who skied a hook off Jordan Thompson into the wicketkeeper’s gloves – in the second over of the day, Northamptonshire made swift progress.Gay and Will Young (33) bustled along at four-and-a-half an over until Steven Patterson’s miserly spell stemmed the flow of runs and Revis then weighed in with two quick wickets. He sent Young’s off stump flying to break the partnership of 55 and then persuaded Saif Zaib to nibble at a ball that slanted across the left-hander in his next over.Bess had his first delivery swept to the boundary by Rob Keogh – but the spinner eventually got his man to an identical shot just before lunch as Revis raced from backward square to clasp a magnificent catch over his shoulder.However, Bess initially missed out on the scalp of Gay, put down by Lyth at slip on 40, and he and Luke Procter put together an industrious stand of 49 to wipe out any fears about the follow-on.Procter dug in, with infrequent attacking strokes – although one of those, when he decided to give Bess the charge, caught his partner at the non-striker’s end a nasty blow on the left wrist.Although fit to continue, Gay was soon back in the pavilion anyway, flicking a flighted Bess delivery into the hands of leg slip and Lewis McManus followed, caught low off Revis.Procter battled on, finishing with a gritty undefeated 38 – enough to scramble a batting bonus point before Haris Rauf and Thompson took the new ball and cleaned up the tail.The home seamers struggled to establish control, though, leaking runs as Karunaratne and Lyth sped past 50 inside the first nine overs of their second innings.Procter’s medium pace produced an eventual breakthrough, piercing the Sri Lanka captain’s defences, but George Hill accompanied Lyth to stumps.

Angelo Mathews at least had the sense of humour to deal with the heartache of getting out on 199 on the second day in Chattogram. He was in good spirits at the end-of-day press conference, speaking candidly about his misjudgment at that tantalising score, and shared a couple of laughs too.Taking it lightly and being hopeful are probably one of the better ways to deal with such a situation. Despite being a visiting batter, the small crowd at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium waited for Mathews to reach his second double-hundred. Once he reached the 190s, it was only a case of staying on strike. He struck a four to move to 196, and took a quick two with a dab to third man to move to 199.Next ball, the last of Nayeem Hasan’s over, the plan was to take the single that would take him to the landmark, but also keep him on strike for the next over as Sri Lanka were nine down. Mominul Haque brought in all the fielders. Nayeem floated one well outside off, which Mathews wafted at, and only inside-edged it to midwicket, where Shakib Al Hasan took an easy catch.Related

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“I just premeditated the shot,” Mathews said. “I didn’t connect it. It was one of those unfortunate incidents. Obviously, it would have been nice to get that one run but you have to take what God gives you. Getting that one run off the last ball with the last man, I wanted to get to the double-hundred. I miscalculated it, and unfortunately, Shakib caught it (laughs). I am thankful that I was able to play a good knock. Hopefully it will help us win the game.”Except that one run though, Mathews kept Sri Lanka’s innings together for nine hours and 38 minutes. Fighting oppressive heat and humidity, and quite accurate bowling from the Bangladesh spinners, he kept Sri Lanka on track with sizeable partnerships and got them out of trouble on three or four occasions too.He was thankful for his fitness, which he has improved in the last couple of years. Chandika Hathurusingha, then Sri Lanka coach, had criticised Mathews’ fitness four years ago, even claiming that he had set a world record of getting his partner run out.Mathews has since worked on his fitness under Mickey Arthur, and is known for an improved attitude towards fitness, diet and gym.”I was exhausted, to be honest, especially in the heat. It was 42 degrees, boiling hot in the middle,” Mathews said. “But I knew that once I get a start, no matter what the situation and condition is, if I am set, I need to carry through.”That’s why we do the fitness, etc, to play in extreme conditions. We are thankful to the trainers for pushing all of us. Whatever conditions you get, you have to perform to the best of your ability. Lot of work is being put behind the scenes by all the coaches.”Mathews said that he expected other set batters to get big scores like him, whenever Sri Lanka get into these positions. “We have got a few seniors like Dimuth, Chandimal and Dickwella. Dhananjaya has played quite a lot of cricket too. The thinking among the batters is that whoever gets a start has to make it count.”Yesterday and today were my days. Next time it will be another. Hopefully he carries us through. Whoever gets set, has to bat deep.”Mathews believed that they came up a bit short with their first innings score, of 397, but said Bangladesh bowled well throughout the two days to keep them in the straight and narrow.”It is a par score on this really good wicket. Bangladesh bowled extremely well. They didn’t give anything away. No freebies. They bowled to a line and length. They put us under a lot of pressure, made us work really hard for our runs.”Nayeem got the ball to turn a little bit as well. Eventually they got the results. We lost a few quick wickets. We lost our way in the middle. I thought we were about 50-60 runs short. We wanted somewhere around 500 runs.”

Ian Bishop is “concerned” at Virat Kohli’s repeated struggles against spin, especially offspin, as he tries to get out of a form slump. In IPL 2022, he has managed just one fifty-plus score and a strike rate of just 111.09, which is the third lowest among batters with at least 150 runs this season.Related

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Kohli was bowled by a ripping Moeen Ali offbreak for a 33-ball 30 in the 10th over as he was lured into a big drive. It was a carbon copy of his dismissal to Moeen in the Chennai Test last year. In all, Kohli played out 16 dot balls on Wednesday. That it came on the back of Glenn Maxwell’s run out in the previous over, after a horrible misjudgment from Kohli, added to the side’s woes. Royal Challengers eventually managed 173, thanks to breezy knocks from uncapped pair of Rajat Patidar and Mahipal Lomror.”For a while, for 10 or 15 runs, he wasn’t even going at a run-a-ball, or he was just going at a run-a-ball,” Bishop said on T20 Time:Out, ESPNcricinfo’s analysis show. “He didn’t get ahead, and there wasn’t much intent. He hit one [six] over extra-cover off the seamer, and that was when he just went ahead to a run-a-ball and then he came back.”This is something we’ve been seeing with Virat, not just this season. Even last season, I remember, and even sometimes internationally, he’ll fly out – he didn’t fly out tonight – and then he’ll slow down again. So, I’m concerned.”Roston Chase got him out in the West Indies series [at home in February], we saw him getting out to the offspinner in Test matches. So, I’m concerned about…and I’m a Kohli fan. I tune in to watch cricket when Kohli’s at his best, so it isn’t criticism but an observation that I am concerned that a number of types of bowlers are getting him out and he’s not getting ahead of the rate.”Equally concerning, Bishop believes, is Kohli’s apparent struggle to break free. Despite this, Royal Challengers posted one of their better starts this season – 57 without loss in the powerplay, as opposed to their average run-rate of 6.58, the lowest among all 10 teams coming into the game.”If you’re not getting ahead of the rate and going at a run-a-ball, you need to bat deep into the innings,” he said. “And he isn’t going deep into the innings either. So those deliveries don’t come back to you. Even if RCB won, that wasn’t an innings, even given the difficulties of the pitch, that you could say caused a match-winning total.”While Bishop was “scared” about how much Kohli missed the ball by, Daniel Vettori heaped praise on Moeen’s mastery in setting up a Test-match style dismissal.”I can think of the likes of a R Ashwin or a Harbhajan [Singh] bowling really quickly to him in the powerplay and him just looking for singles, and potentially not dominating them. But this is different,” Vettori said. “This is Moeen Ali trying to spin the ball, wide of off stump and I feel like I can see that dismissal a few times in Test matches.Virat Kohli has found runs of late, but his strike rate has still been a cause for concern•PTI

“And that is a huge amount of credit to Moeen Ali and his style of bowling – the fact that he was able to hit those areas with a little bit of drift, then that quick spin. So, this type of bowling seems to have troubled him a little bit as of now. It is a great ball. It’s a fantastic piece of bowling and the surface allowed it to happen and the fact that Kohli was looking only for singles allowed it to happen as well.”Moeen showed what Super Kings missed mid-season after he was forced to sit out a few games due to an ankle niggle. His control and the ability to assess conditions quickly, and then vary his pace and loop as per the surface. This one in Pune offered plenty of bite.Sometimes as a spinner, the key on these surfaces isn’t to get carried away and, as the cliché goes, to keep things simple. Moeen did just that and finished with 2 for 28 off four overs. By the time Moeen had bowled out by the 14th, the Royal Challengers were on rebuild mode.”We’ve got to say that it was a very good spell of bowling from Moeen Ali,” Vettori said. “I mean when an offspinner can put that much pressure on a right-handed batsman trying to get singles, trying not even look to be aggressive towards him, showed that the pace that Moeen Ali was bowling. And it [pitch] had quick spin, I think that’s the thing that might separate this surface, that it did spin quickly.”But it just feels like it comes down to intent: at no stage did Kohli look like he was going for anything but a single. So, you plant foot down the crease, and you wait for the ball to come. If the ball is in the right spot, you can’t manipulate a single.”And Kohli at his best takes on offspin because he’s aggressive, he hits them straight, and then he hits his hard ones. So, it is all about intent. And maybe the loss of the wicket, the run-out of Maxwell just put him back in his cage, and he thought ‘I need to bat for an extended period of time’. But he is good enough to use his feet against Moeen Ali.”

Yorkshire raced to a record 208 target to beat Durham in a mesmerising Vitality Blast clash at Headingley as Adam Lyth and David Willey starred with brilliant innings of 77 and 75 not out.Vikings were rocked by Durham’s 207 for 8, including 65 off 37 balls for opener Graham Clark and a career best 56 off 34 for on-loan Kent wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson. But their mood was quickly turned by opener Lyth, who broke the back of the chase with 10 fours and three sixes in 33 balls before England allrounder Willey saw his side home by six wickets with 2.2 overs to spare, crashing eight fours and three sixes in 39.Never before had Yorkshire, who survived the loss of England’s Harry Brook for 4 following his release from the Test squad, chased 200, and this was their second win in five in the North Group. Their previous highest successful chase was 196 against Derbyshire here in 2005.Earlier, Jordan Thompson’s career best 4 for 32 had been crucial as the Vikings limited the damage late on.Belligerent opener Clark was expertly backed up by second-wicket partner Robinson as Durham excelled with the bat on a glorious pitch, the pair sharing 92 inside nine overs to advance from 34 for 1, putting pressure on a Yorkshire side who lost back-to-back home games against Leicestershire and Derbyshire earlier this week.Clark’s only six was slog swept off Adil Rashid over midwicket, while Robinson hoisted Dom Bess over long-on into the second tier of Headingley’s Howard Stand before slicing left-arm quick Dominic Drakes over backward point.Clark reached his fifty off 27 balls before uppercutting Bajan overseas debutant Drakes out to deep cover as the score fell to 126 for 2 gafter 12 overs. Shortly afterwards, Robinson’s fifty came up in 29 balls.From there, Thompson claimed all of his wickets from the 15th over onwards as Yorkshire turned the tide. He uprooted Robinson’s leg stump as he shuffled across and played to leg – 148 for 4 at the start of the 15th – before getting Brydon Carse caught at deep cover at the end of the next.Carse had usurped Robinson by finding the top tier of three-tiered Howard Stand off Matthew Revis, a shot brilliantly caught one-handed in the crowd.In Thompson’s last over, the 19th, he had Durham captain Liam Trevaskis caught at short third and bowled Ned Eckersley off his pads as the score fell to 192 for 8.Yorkshire then put Durham’s batting into the shade, with Kiwi Finn Allen clattering Carse for sixes over long-on and midwicket at the end of the second over. Seventeen runs came off each of the third and fourth overs, but Allen was caught at mid-off for 29 off 12 balls off Andrew Tye towards the end of the latter, leaving the hosts 54 for 1.Lyth was strong square on both sides of the wicket as the score moved to 79 for one after six overs. By the time he reached his fifty off 23 balls, Yorkshire were 97 for 1 in the eighth and things were looking ominous for Durham, who lost their third game in five at the start of the group phase.Lyth had whipped Paul Coughlin for his first six, uppercut Carse and despatched Coughlin over long-on. Such was the ease with which runs were coming that even when Lyth miscued Ben Raine’s seam high to wide mid-off, leaving Yorkshire at 124 for 2 in the 10th over, the result was in little doubt.Lyth had shared 70 in six overs with second-wicket partner Willey, who continued the assault with leg-side sixes off Carse and Trevaskis and reached his fifty off 27 balls.Brook was caught at deep backward square-leg off Ben Raine – 160 for 3 in the 13th over – but it did not matter.

If England had sent Emma Lamb in to bat at any position, she reckons she would have tried to grab her chance with both hands. That the opportunity came knocking in her favoured opener’s role and resulted in a century as England swept South Africa aside by five wickets in their opening ODI made it “amazing”.Making just her fourth international appearance, Lamb’s 97-ball 102 accounted for much of England’s successful pursuit of 219 in Northampton to take a four-points-to-two lead in the multi-format series, with two more one-day matches and three T20Is to play.A fortnight ago, Lamb made 38 on Test debut opening alongside Tammy Beaumont as the sides drew in Taunton. That followed a second-ball duck during the third ODI against Australia during the Ashes in February and she wasn’t required to bat as England opened with Beaumont and Danni Wyatt in their nine-wicket win against Pakistan at the World Cup.”You always want to prove yourself, don’t you?” Lamb said pitch-side at Wantage Road on Monday, when asked about those earlier ODIs. “I suppose that was kind of like a little drive, a little thought in the back of my mind but I feel like any opportunity that I got, even if it wasn’t opening, I would have taken it and tried to do the best I could with it.”Wyatt has moved up and down the order as England wrestled with an opening conundrum. She replaced Lauren Winfield-Hill at the top during the World Cup and scored a century in the semi-final against South Africa. Here she dropped down to No. 6 and struck the winning runs with an unbeaten 14 off five balls after Lamb had done the heavy lifting alongside an explosive 55 off 36 by Nat Sciver.Heading into the Test match, England head coach Lisa Keightley had said she was keen to see what Lamb could do as an international opener, having played the majority of her domestic and regional cricket there, and she acquitted herself well in a 65-run stand with Beaumont.Here Lamb took a lead role after Beaumont fell in the third over and she ran with it.”I felt pretty comfortable,” Lamb said. “I went in today knowing my role and having the coaches and my team-mates back me, I felt pretty happy with what I needed to do.Related

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“When you lose an early wicket there’s a little bit of pressure on me but I was still wanting to play my game and not change anything. When I got past the 50-mark, I was really happy but when I got to 100, obviously I was over the moon.”She played beautifully to the off-side and when she brought up her ton with an open-faced drive off Nadine de Klerk, Heather Knight, her captain was at the opposite end of the pitch, with a fist-pumping hug at the ready and looking almost as thrilled as Lamb until the latter removed her helmet and turned to the changing room with a beaming smile and arms raised aloft.”She was just so buzzing for me,” Lamb said of Knight. “It’s a little bit emotional. I think when anyone gets a hundred it can be like the best thing in the world and a little bit emotional but yeah, it was very nice to be out there with the skipper and get a hundred and hug her.”Heading into the second match in Bristol on Friday, Lamb indicated England were keen to ride a wave of positivity against a South African side which beat them in the group stages of the World Cup and had come into this match wanting to atone for their semi-final defeat.That the match wasn’t particularly close after Sciver and Katherine Brunt had combined to take seven wickets between them to contain their opponents did not come as a surprise to her either.”I’m not surprised because I think it was a big mindset thing for us,” she said. “We just wanted to be really positive and our bowlers did really well today on a very good wicket.”We just wanted to be positive with the bat and when we play our best cricket, we can easily dominate and win easily like we have done.”

Lancashire’s batsmen mounted the highest successful run-chase in their county’s illustrious List A history to defeat Northamptonshire Steelbacks on a sun-soaked, run-stuffed day at Blackpool.Replying to their opponents 370 for four, Northamptonshire’s second-highest List A total, Lancashire got home with 10 balls to spare, thanks to a century from their skipper, Keaton Jennings, and a nerveless 61 not out off 34 balls by George Lavelle.However, defeat was hard on the Northamptonshire openers, Ricardo Vasconcelos and Emilio Gay, both of whom made centuries in what was a magnificent game of List A cricket.Unsurprisingly the Steelbacks’ innings was dominated by Vasconcelos and Gay, whose 198-run stand set a first-wicket record for Northamptonshire against Lancashire in List A cricket.Related

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Vasconcelos was quick to punish anything short of a length and reached three figures off 89 balls with nine fours and three sixes. By contrast, Gay’s driving was a particular delight and he got to his maiden List A century off 94 balls.Despite their best efforts, Lancashire’s bowlers were unthreatening and it was fitting that the first wicket was a run out when Gay sent Vasconcelos back and the South African opener was beaten by Steven Croft’s throw from square leg.Will Young and Saif Zaib made useful twenties before both batsmen were caught at deep square leg by Rob Jones, George Balderson and Danny Lamb being the successful bowlers. Four balls after Zaib’s departure, Gay was run out for 131 by Luke Wells’s direct hit from cover, leaving the Steelbacks on 304 for four after 41.3 overs.Those wickets deprived the Steelbacks innings of a little of its impetus but Lewis McManus hit four sixes in his 44 not out to ensure that Northamptonshire reached their highest List A total against Lancashire, who conceded their third-highest total in this format. Lamb, who took one for 64 from his ten overs was the pick of the home attack. most members of which were roughly treated on a superb batting pitch.But Northamptonshire’s bowlers found things no easier against the in-form openers, Keaton Jennings and Luke Wells, who put on 130 in 16 overs before Wells was caught at long off for 84 by the substitute fielder Harry Gouldstone off Saif Zaib.Wells had been particularly severe on Freddie Heldreich, hitting the left-arm wrist spinner for three sixes in one over, but Zaib maintained a degree of control and took the second wicket when he caught and bowled Josh Bohannon for 26, thus ending the Boltonian’s 72-run second-wicket stand with Jennings.Lancashire’s efforts to accelerate were further hampered by the loss of Steven Croft, caught and bowled by Alex Russell for 13, and Rob Jones, caught behind by McManus off Sales for eight, but the crucial blow seemed to have been struck when Jennings, having reached an 86-ball hundred was briliantly caught on the deep midwicket boundary by Gay off Sales for 125.But Lavelle was joined by George Balderson and the pair’s 82-run stand for the sixth wicket was vital in securing one of Lancashire’s most memorable victories. The win also confirms the home side’s place in the knockout stages of the Royal London Cup.

Northamptonshire 175 (Procter 40, Abbott 4-52, Barker 3-41) and 153 for 3 (Gay 74) trail Hampshire 400 for 9 dec (Donald 94, Organ 71, Abbott 57) by 72 runsHampshire snared 12 wickets in the day to roll Northamptonshire for a first-innings 175 and claimed full bonus points to put themselves on course to go top of the LV= Insurance County Championship Division One.Kyle Abbott took his season tally to 53 wickets to remain the leading wicket-taker in Division One with 4 for 52, while Keith Barker joined him in second with 3 for 41 and 1 for 34.Northamptonshire were forced to follow on after suffering a 225-run first-innings deficit, but Emilio Gay’s excellent season continued with a classy 74 as the visitors ended the day 153 for 3 – still 72 runs behind.Hampshire will go at least level with leaders Surrey, who do not play in this round, with a victory moving them eight points clear.After a fair batting day, conditions very much favoured bowling, with Barker, Mohammad Abbas and Abbott relentless in their probing.With such heavy rain coming overnight and in the morning, it was a testament to Simon Lee and his ground staff – along with the new outfield laid last winter – that play started only 45 minutes later than scheduled.When it did Hampshire needed just five overs to make their first breakthrough. Gay had been almost perfect in his defence the previous evening but clipped to square leg with only three runs added in the morning.From then on it was rather a procession, with the remaining eight wickets falling in 33 overs.Josh Cobb pulled to the catcher at short mid-wicket, Rob Keogh edged behind to Aneurin Donald for a 10-ball duck, and Ricardo Vasconcelos – having unfurled a lovely cover drive first ball – pushed to second slip.After lunch, James Sales was yorked to the first ball on resumption by Barker.Luke Procter had ground out 40 at the other end with watchfulness and skill against the moving ball, but his downfall was a James Fuller over always destined to take a wicket.Fuller, in his first over of the match, bowled two short balls to destabilise Procter, then beat his outside edge before clipping the edge of the bat with the final ball of the over, a snorter.Tom Taylor had attempted to dig in but edged behind, Lizaad Williams sliced to point and Ben Sanderson was bowled to wrap things up, and Northamptonshire were sent straight back in with a 225-run deficit.A fresh innings saw a return to Gay and Will Young bedding in. The duo put on 68 in the first innings and looked unmovable when amassing 98 in the second.Gay was particularly impressive in his fifth half-century of the campaign, refusing to get bogged down with crafty shot-making while still valuing his wicket.Young was less fluent, with three-quarters of his four boundaries coming when the bowling erred onto his pads. He largely avoided playing at anything he didn’t need to until Ian Holland forced him to nibble at one on a fourth-stump line to nick behind.Procter was also victim to a jaffa as Barker found bounce just back of a length to also edge behind, before Gay was lbw to Fuller two overs later. Bad light once again ended the day early.

Worcestershire 87 for 0 (Libby 42*, Pollock 36*) trail Sussex 220 (Carson 58, Coles 54, Hudson-Prentice 51, Leach 4-37) by 133 runsJoe Leach took his 400th first-class wicket as Worcestershire dominated Sussex on day one at Hove to keep their slim promotion hopes alive in the LV= Insurance County Championship.The Pears realistically need to win all three remaining Division Two games and put themselves in a strong position after dismissing Sussex for 220, with Leach claiming four for 37.That modest total represented a recovery by Sussex who had been 23 for five before half-centuries by Fynn Hudson-Prentice, James Coles and Jack Carson revived them.But the pitch held few terrors for Worcestershire’s openers Ed Pollock and Jake Libby who posted 87 without loss before bad light ended play six overs early.After the teams observed a minute’s silence in memory of Queen Elizabeth II, Leach settled into a probing line to the four left-handers at the top of the Sussex innings, taking three for 16 in his seven-over new-ball spell to leave Sussex in tatters after they had won the toss.Ali Orr played on to his Leach’s fifth ball and he pinned Tom Alsop lbw with the second delivery of his second over, a fullish delivery that swung back just enough. A similar length accounted for Tom Clark in Leach’s fourth over as the batsman played across the line.Dillon Pennington struck with his first ball when he extracted some extra bounce and Oli Carter touched it tamely to the wicketkeeper. Tom Haines, returning from a broken hand, faced 36 balls and batted for 63 minutes for his two runs but the Sussex captain played on to Ben Gibbon’s second ball.But as is so often the case at Hove, batting gets easier once the new ball loses its hardness and Hudson-Prentice, Coles and Carson led the recovery.Hudson-Prentice was dropped at second slip by Jack Haynes on 36 but added 76 with Coles, counterattacking effectively until Pennington found just enough seam movement to have him caught behind for 51 (64 balls, 7 fours) just after lunch.Leach returned and reached his milestone courtesy of a smart low catch by Hayes off Pakistan all-rounder Faheem Ashraf, who has joined Sussex for their last three Championship matches of the season. His side were back in trouble at 106 for seven.But Sussex’s last three wickets more than doubled the score, the fightback led by Coles and Carson, who was playing his first match of the season after recovering from knee surgery.Coles progressed to his second half-century of the season, made in a shade under three hours. At the other end Carson was more aggressive as they added 87 in 18 overs. Coles had just reached his second half-century of the season when Pennington dropped short, and he picked out Azhar Ali on the deep backward square boundary for 54 (132 balls, 9 fours).After Henry Crocombe holed out to mid-off, Carson was last out for 58 (74 balls, 9 fours) when he was run out by Libby’s direct hit coming back for a second run.Ashraf has been brought in to bolster a seam attack without Ari Karvelas and Steve Finn, who are out for the rest of the season but both he and the rest of the Sussex seamers struggled to break through.Pollock gave one chance on 34 but was dropped at slip by Tom Alsop off Haines to confirm it was Worcestershire’s day.