Abi Sakande keen to fight for his place

Abi Sakande has vowed to battle to keep his place after a red letter day with the pink ball.

The young Sussex seamer collected his first Championship wicket on an otherwise forgettable day at Hove.

Sakande, 22, is seizing his chance after the county lost the services of Vernon Philander for good, Steve Magoffin for a while and George Garton for this week.

He said: “There is real competition for places just to get into our bowling attack so I knew I had to try and perform well today.

“I took five wickets against South Africa A a couple of weeks ago and have felt in quite good rhythm and I was pleased to get a wicket and with a bit of luck might have got a couple more.

“It’s been a frustrating two days with the rain we’ve had but I have really enjoyed the experience.

“The pink ball does do a bit early on but then it gets a little soft but we stuck at it and you have to give credit to their batsmen.

“It was quite tough conditions with the lights on most of the day but they did well.”

Just 45 overs were possible yesterday and this match against Gloucestershire looks destined for a draw unless the rival captains can conjure up a final-day run chase.

Play was restricted to three spells, the lengthiest 32.1 overs in the middle session, and at stumps Gloucestershire had reached 150-1 in reply to Sussex’s 358-9 declared.

The second day was washed out completely on Tuesday after an excellent opening day.

Floodlights stayed on throughout but the pink ball did little to assist Sussex’s seamers while Gloucestershire’s batsmen settled for steady accumulation on a slow pitch with a damp outfield a further frustration.

Cameron Bancroft made his second successive Championship half-century and Sakande was rewarded for an impressive spell with his first wicket in four-day cricket.

But, with Gloucestershire still 198 behind, it will need some imaginative declarations to ensure a decent finish with 150 overs lost so far including the entire second day.

Bancroft, the 24-year-old from Perth, showed admirable application in the tough conditions, although he would have been run out on 31 had Jofra Archer’s shy at the stumps at the non-striker’s end hit the stumps.

He put on 62 with Chris Dent before Sakande’s big moment when Dent mis-timed a pull and was held at deep mid-wicket for 31.

Will Tavare, too, had a let-off on 17 when he drove left-arm spinner Danny Briggs to mid-on but David Wiese failed to cling on to a difficult chance above his head, despite getting both hands on the ball.

The ground was virtually deserted when play resumed for the final time at 9pm and Gloucestershire’s second wicket pair extended their stand to 82 from 27 overs with Bancroft 69 and Tavare 43 not out at stumps.

Bancroft said: “I have played quite a few pink-ball games in domestic competition and it is a lot different.

“Facing a new rock at 9pm under the lights is very interesting and you have to be at your best.

“We’ve got always got good starts to our innings this season so it was important to lay a foundation and I thought we did that.

“But we have had a lot of rain and it will be interesting if the captains can set something up.”

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