Sussex 44 for 2 trail Durham 301 (Muchall 81, Stoneman 51, Linley 5-63, Wells 3-35) by 257 runs
Scorecard
The Arundel Castle ground is a tree-ringed circus of sophisticated glories, so perhaps it is only fitting that a cricketer nicknamed "the Viscount" should prosper here. Until the first day of this game Tim Linley's only first-class wicket in Sussex colours was that of the Sri Lankan opener Jehan Mubarak, whom he dismissed during his first loan spell in 2006. Properly unfussed by this modest record, though, the rangy seamer with a long-striding run-up took 5 for 63 on the opening day of this game to help justify Ed Joyce's decision to bowl first against the side currently setting the pace in Division One of the County Championship.
It might be, of course, that Mark Robinson, the Sussex coach, recalled Linley's only previous first-class appearance at Arundel when he signed the Surrey cricketer on a month's loan over the weekend. Almost exactly two years ago Linley removed Joyce, Chris Nash, Chris Jordan and Steve Magoffin at a cost of 68 runs when Surrey visited the ground described by the peerless Alan Ross as a "beautiful amphitheatre".
Robinson's needs were certainly pressing. Lewis Hatchett, James Anyon and Tymal Mills miss this match through injury and Ajmal Shahzad's return lasted just four overs before a recurrence of his pectoral injury compelled him to return to the famous pavilion that could double as a hunting lodge in the Tyrol.
Yet one of Durham's least-lauded strengths is that their cricketers often find ways to win games in which they have not played particularly well. While their supporters complain that Paul Collingwood's top five is the worst in Division One, four of the leaders' five wins in seven matches have been gained batting fourth. And even on a wicket offering help to Linley and low bounce to all seven members of Joyce's attack, Durham still collected their first batting bonus points in five games by making 301 with Gordon Muchall marking only his third Championship appearance of the season with an admirably hard-working 81 not out.
Other critics point out that all but three of Durham's wickets this season have been taken by seamers of one variety or another. But when your new ball bowlers are as effective as Chris Rushworth, who castled both Sussex openers, Mike Yardy letting the ball go and Luke Wells with a good one possibly off the inside edge, your need for spinners is fairly limited. Joyce and Matt Machan shepherded their side to 44 for 2 at the close but Durham will be happy with their work. They fight hard and they are a proper team.
On the first morning of this game, however, Collingwood's batsmen kept the scoreboard moving because Mark Stoneman launched a cavalry charge against the hitherto niggardly Steve Magoffin, whose 264.5 previous County Championship overs in 2015 had cost 2.94 runs apiece. At Arundel, though, Magoffin's first nine overs cost 60 as Stoneman cut, drove and deflected him away. Most memorably of all, the left-handed Durham opener clipped the Australian high over midwicket for six. It all made Magoffin's single success, the dismissal of Keaton Jennings for 5, seem rather paltry.
Not could it last. Bowling from the Castle End, Linley cut down Durham's top order batting, removing Stoneman for a 44-ball 51 and Scott Borthwick for 24 with a good ball which took the edge and flew to the slips. Then Collingwood was leg before when shouldering arms and the visitors had declined from 80 for 1 in the fourteenth over to 96 for 4 in the eighteenth. Linley had taken three wickets for two runs in 15 balls. He rather likes Arundel. But who could not?
The rest of Durham's innings belonged to Muchall and his friends from the North. Michael Richardson helped him add 83 for the fifth wicket either side of lunch and although the run-rate declined markedly from that achieved during Stoneman's onslaught, the foundations were being laid for what may be seen in time as a substantial total.
Richardson's careless pull to midwicket off Magoffin saw him stalk away four runs short of his fifty and it also marked the beginning of another small collapse. Linley removed Ryan Pringle with a ball that kept low and Paul Coughlin, snicking to slip when playing an execrable shot, in the space of three balls.
Durham, though, almost always find a way. John Hastings bulldozed a rapid 23 before Rushworth, batting far better than most county No. 10s, made 39 out of a ninth wicket stand of 63 with Muchall. And all this time, Durham's No. 6 had battled away, an infantryman of the game. Capitalising upon any errors of line and length committed by George Dockrell, Sussex's other loanee, he reached his fifty off 115 balls with nine fours and then whacked the slow left-armer over long off for six. His final four off Dockrell earned his side their final bonus point and it was played in the over before legspinner Luke Wells collected his third tail-end wicket of the innings when Graham Onions chipped him to Nash at mid-on.
And for the neutral it was good to see a Sussex legspinner prosper at Arundel, a venue which has always encouraged attacking cricket. Moreover, the presence of Wells, Alan's son, in the Sussex side maintains the county's faltering familial tradition. The leggie enjoyed his successes from the same end as Linley, so both had the ducal flag fluttering in the background as they ran in. The ends at Arundel are called "Castle" and "Park", although "Paradise" and "Shangri-La" seemed more appropriate names when the gently declining sun was dappling the trees and green Sussex was fading into blue.
