Horsham

Sussex vs Somerset at Horsham, County Championship
Somerset 76 & 108; Sussex 300
Sussex won by an innings and 116 runs

Steve Magoffin is a 33 year old medium fast Australian who has played 93 First Class matches for Queensland, Surrey, Sussex, Western Australia, and Worcestershire. Over those 93 matches, he has taken 334 wickets with an economy rate of 2.63.

Yet he has never played for Australia at the international level.

This brings to mind two thoughts: One: considering Australia’s current problems, it’s a shame that they are not giving bowlers such as Magoffin further consideration. Two: It also goes to show how difficult it is to break into an international side. There are countless journeyman professionals such as Magoffin who have long and successful careers at the County level, but never get a sniff of the Test or even one day squad.

Something to remember when we are all watching the Champions Trophy and the Ashes this summer: we really are watching the very best cricketers on earth.

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Magoffin’s eight first inning wickets for Sussex against Somerset last week buried his opponents before the first drinks break. The hosts were all out for only 76 runs before lunch on day one, and Sussex’s quiet and efficient 300 was all they needed.

Magoffin took another four wickets in the second innings, while only giving up 11 runs in 12.3 overs.

His full match stats are nothing if not impressive:

23.3-9-31-12

That’s a good couple of days at the office.

Hopefully it at the very least turned a couple of heads over at Cricket Australia.

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That’s two wins on the trot now for Sussex in the County Championship, and they have yet to lose a match in that tournament. They currently sit at the top of the table – one point clear of Middlesex but with a match in hand; all of this despite the fact that several of their key players (Joyce, Prior…et al) have been away on international duty.

Sussex vs Kent at Horsham, Yorkshire Bank 40
Sussex 222; Kent 202
Sussex won by 20 runs

I have given Sussex a little stick lately for relying too often on one stand out performance from one player, and how that might start to become a problem.

The YB40 match against Kent yesterday bucked that trend. They had five batsmen score over 30 runs; and four bowlers each took two wickets.

It was not a drubbing, but it was an efficient team effort and sorely what Sussex needed in this competition.

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Horsham Cricket Club is one of three official grounds used by Sussex throughout the season. The matches there this week were part of the Horsham Cricket Festival.

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Next up for Sussex: Warwickshire at Hove in another 40 over match on May 30th.