Sussex 386
Sussex won by an innings and 127 runs
Middlesex have been billes as potential champions. They will have to play a good deal better than this. A collapse of 8 for 33 saw them lose before lunch on the final day and begin the season with a hammering in little over six sessions after the second day at Hove had been lost to rain.
Without Rogers, who made 1068 Championship runs last year, and Sam Robson, 1180 in 2013, Middlesex have often veered off course but here, with Robson out on the third evening, they finished in a mangled heap once their captain was dismissed 40 minutes into the final day in what became a shocking highlight of their middle-order deficiencies.
Sussex's consistency with the ball was crucial with enough swing available to cause problems. The opening overs were settled before Anyon struck and carnage ensued. Rogers looked to play to leg and was caught by wicketkeeper Ben Brown; Eoin Morgan failed again, also feathering an edge behind; Adam Rossington was Anyon's third wicket, lbw looking to play square too.
Lewis floated a wide delivery that Neil Dexter couldn't resist driving at; he edged to third slip. A better Lewis delivery saw Dawid Malan caught at first slip. Magoffin then blew away the tail with an ugly flattening of stumps.
The weakness was identified by Sussex captain Ed Joyce: "The two openers have been big batsmen for them over the past couple of years and if you can get them out the middle order is potentially a bit vulnerable, looking at the averages."
Joyce described the loss of quick wickets as the "Hove Cluster" - such things tend to happen here - but Middlesex suffered a Hove Calamity. James Anyon, bustling up the hill from the Sea End, marched them to the shore, and Steve Magoffin kicked them into the water to finish with five wickets.
Middlesex's Championship challenge faltered towards the end of last season and it will take a defiant response towards perceived weaknesses even to get in the frame this year. They now have three matches at Lord's to find a response. They need to work not just on theior batting, but all aspects of their game.
"We got outplayed throughout the whole game," Rogers said. "We've had a very poor game. We've got some questions that need to be answered. It's not a great way to start the season.
"We played poorly all round and we got what we deserved. Even if we had scored 200 in the first innings we'd have been in the game. And then there was a crucial dropped catch. We had a lot of players who performed below expectations. We had no one apart from Steve Finn who stood up and for only one person to do that in a game is not good enough.
"At the beginning of the season we're thinking we've got half a chance to be contending at the end but not with performances like that. But we've only had one bad game, that can happen, and we have to get better."
Sussex also began 2013 with an innings victory and will hope to go a couple of places better than last year's third place. They have a very solid bowling attack with Jon Lewis' six wickets here a fine start to what could be a second wind for his career. Chris Jordan is also to come back but it was his batting that Joyce identified as a key component in Sussex's development.
"We bowled a lot more consistently then they did and showed more fight with the bat and our lower order really contributed well," Joyce said. "We've been working hugely hard over the winter to try and improve the lower order batting. We looked at the teams who have won the title over the past few years and they seem to be scoring runs from six down.
"We did a lot talking over the winter as a group and went to Spain together to come up with a bowling plan; it's pretty simple to hit the same spot lots and lots of times and we did that in this game. It's obviously a great start."
Day 1 Report: Eoin Morgan blundered the first fence badly as the field in the eight-round race for England Test selection in June jumped away with the tape raised on the new season at Hove. Sam Robson was also a slow starter as Middlesex were fired out for 105 on the opening day.
Morgan opted for county cricket ahead of another stint in the IPL with the England team-sheet for the first Test against Sri Lanka showing plenty of blank spaces. But he was bowled first ball by Jon Lewis as he received a rude reminder about the demands of Championship cricket in April.
This was Morgan's first Championship match in April since 2009 - and only his ninth four-day game in the last five seasons. It was a short reacquaintance in the middle as Lewis swung one into his middle and off stumps.
Morgan has often been criticised for not having a tight enough technique for Test cricket - although it was his failure to deal with Pakistani spinners that saw him dropped from England's Test side - and he will have to prove overwhelmingly that he can deal with the moving ball if England are to pick him ahead of proven runscorers in the Championship.
Robson also failed. He has moved to the top of the market to become Alastair Cook's partner against Sri Lanka after a strong winter which included five centuries in six matches in Australia for the England Performance Programme and for England Lions in Sri Lanka. He now needs Championship runs to solidify his chance of selection.
But his price will have drifted slightly after a 34-ball stay where he applied the necessary careful judgement and discipline to survive most of the only hour before lunch - rain delayed the start until noon - before driving awkwardly from the crease at James Anyon and edging behind.
Robson was not the only one to fall for a loose stroke outside off as Middlesex produced little evidence of an improvement in a middle order whose struggles last season seriously undermined what was for a while a solid Championship challenge. Morgan was a boost to their ranks but was one of five single figure scores from Nos. 3 to 7.
Also beginning the season with international cricket a firm target is Steven Finn. He returns to county action after a miserable winter where his bowling disintegrated and after not featuring in England's Ashes debacle and ending a problematic phase of his career with his star fallen significantly.
He was not given the new ball and came on to bowl at Matt Prior. Third ball, Prior drove gloriously through the covers for four and two balls later a hook also found the fence. Finn went for 20 in four overs as a reminder that he still has a long way back to his best form.
With three of Middlesex's England potential players failing, Prior was left to provide some good news. His flourishing strokeplay was absent in Australia, leading to his dropping after the third Test, but here he brought a smile to spectators with his jaunty unbeaten 32.
Lewis has long departed the thoughts of national selectors but here he enjoyed a fine debut for his third county with his nibbling swing bowling tailor-made for the conditions. The wicket here is one of several relaid in the close season as part of a gradual overhaul of the square but there was no significant help for the bowlers.
A stalwart of 17 seasons at Gloucestershire, Lewis' move to Surrey saw him limited to one-day cricket but Sussex saw a wider role for him and he proved his worth with a darting spell of 4 for 12 in seven overs after lunch. Sussex will probably be without Chris Jordan for a large part of the season and their head coach Mark Robinson will be delighted with the first contribution from what looks like a shrewd acquisition, especially in early-season conditions.
Lewis' dismissal of Morgan followed his opening wicket with the previous ball: Neil Dexter chalked his name on the poor-strokes-against-the-swinging-ball board with a long reach outside off to drive and edged to Ben Brown.
Not too dissimilarly, Dawid Malan edged to Ed Joyce - the only Middlesex batsman to get settled - and Adam Rossington fell behind the wicket, the 20-year-old preferred to Joe Denly with Angus Fraser hoping to get some cricket into his squad, mindful of potentially losing Morgan and Robson to England later in the season.
Surrey 280 & 81
Glamorgan 209 & 156/0 (45.4 ov)
Glamorgan won by 10 wickets
Graham Wagg
took six wickets as Glamorgan brushed aside Surrey after a dramatic final-day
collapse in County Championship Division Two.
Wagg (6-29) and Michael Hogan (4-31) tore apart the hosts, who lost eight wickets for 31 in just over 15 overs.
In response Gareth Rees (75 not out) and William Bragg (72 not out) eased the visitors to a 10-wicket victory.
It was a disappointing start to life in the second tier for the hosts as Glamorgan claimed only their third victory in 24 visits to The Oval.
Hampshire 263 & 27/1 (17.0 ov)
Worcestershire 350/7d
Match drawn
Day 1 report: Michael Carberry, who preceded the season by being critical of England for leaving him out of the limited-overs sides without adequate explanation, began with a six-ball duck for Hampshire as they struggled to 37 for 3 in a rain-reduced opening to their Division Two match against Worcestershire at West End.
The visitors won the toss and chose to field but play was held up after rain affected the Rose Bowl outfield, with the match finally getting under way in mid-afternoon.
Hampshire lost opener Carberry when he fell lbw at the end of the first over to Chris Russell, who was also responsible for James Vince departing without scoring six overs later. Between those dismissals, Liam Dawson was bowled for two by Charles Morris.
Carberry's fellow opener Jimmy Adams scored freely to reach 32 not out, before the umpires called stumps midway through the ninth over.
Nottinghamshire 272 & 220
Lancashire 144 & 303 (93.5 ov)
Nottinghamshire won by 45 runs Day 4 report: Ashwell Prince's final-day century for promoted Lancashire could not prevent Nottinghamshire claiming a 45-run victory in their County Championship campaign opener at Trent Bridge.
Resuming on 7-1, chasing an unlikely 349 to win a memorable contest, it looked grim for the visitors when they slumped to 112-6 just after lunch.
A 147-run stand between Prince (100) and Tom Smith (76) offered some hope.
But Harry Gurney came back to end it, Lancashire being bowled out for 303.
Former Leicestershire paceman Gurney claimed the final two wickets for figures of 4-81, backed by two victims apiece for Luke Fletcher, Jake Ball and Samit Patel.
Prince in regal form again
Ashwell Prince's ton was the 66-times capped South Africa Test batsman's 38th first-class century - and his eighth for Lancashire
That added up to a successful debut for Ball, who also
took two wickets in the first innings.
Having gone from county champions in 2011 to being relegated a year later,
this was Lancashire's first game back in the top flight after last summer's
stroll to the Division Two title.After losing Luis Reece the night before, bowled by Gurney, they were unfancied at the start of the final day, only to respond well by making a decent start when captain Paul Horton and nightwatchman Simon Kerrigan put on 70 for the second wicket.
But, once Ball had managed to get Horton caught behind, another three wickets fell in quick succession.
Patel bagged wickets in successive overs and, when Ball also removed Luke Procter, a home success became even more realistic.
Instead, Prince and Smith - who had a good match, making an unbeaten 42 in the first innings, as well as taking five wickets - dug in until tea, at which point Lancashire were 218-6 needing another 131 to win.
Having got within 90 runs of an improbable victory, Fletcher then removed Smith, and Wayne White and Kabir Ali both went cheaply.
But, although victory chances had by then ebbed away, a 25-run last-wicket stand between Prince and the redoubtable Jimmy Anderson almost saw the visitors to a draw.
Day 3 Report: If Lancashire do go on to save - or even win - this game, they will owe a great deal of their success to Tom Smith.
Smith not only top-scored with the bat to help his side avoid the follow-on, but also claimed a five-wicket haul to precipitate a remarkable collapse in Nottinghamshire second innings. It was his first five-wicket innings in first-class cricket since August 2010 and only the third of his career.
Unfortunately for Smith, it will surely make no difference. Lancashire's target of 349 to win in a minimum of 105 overs would be testing in any conditions. On an early-season pitch that continues to provide disproportionate assistance to the seamers, it will require something approaching a miracle.
The pitch has eased, though, and is becoming ever slower so a draw should not be completely out of the question. Luis Reece's departure five minutes from stumps, playing on as he attempted a lavish pull, was hardly the ideal start.
The Smith-inspired collapse was the most dramatic episode of a day on which 15 wickets fell.
Nottinghamshire lost their last seven wickets for just 32 runs including a spell of six wickets for 14 runs in 46 deliveries. Smith, gaining sharp movement off the seam, claimed 5-11 in his final spell including Michael Lumb, edging a perfect delivery that forced a stroke and moved away sharply, and Alex Hales, who left one which nipped back to hit his off stump.
By then, though, it was probably too late for Lancashire. The damage inflicted by the debacle of their first innings was too great and any hope they had of keeping their eventual target to manageable proportions was ended by Riki Wessels' impressively fluent innings.
Wessles, feasting on an attack that dropped short far too often for the conditions, struck 10 fours and two sixes - both slog-sweeps off Simon Kerrigan - to hammer a nail in Lancashire's hopes. He also punished a weary-looking Anderson, thrashing him through the covers and clipping him through mid-wicket. Anderson eventually produced a yorker to end Wessles' innings, but by then the game was all but gone.
Anderson's mood was not improved when Kabir Ali, who had earlier bowled with impressive skill, missed a straightforward chance at mid-on, simply failing to lay a hand on a mis-hit from Wessles, who had 85 at the time.
It could have been worse for Lancashire. Had Kabir been caught at first slip by Wessles in the morning session, they would have been 84-8 in their first innings and facing the prospect of the follow-on. As it was, Smith averted that possibility with a patient innings - it took him 24 balls to get off the mark - and, after adding 25 for the eighth-wicket with Kbair, added another 38 for the ninth with Kerrigan. It took the return of Luke Fletcher, strangely over-looked until the 26th over of the day, to end the resistance. Fletcher struck with his first two deliveries to polish off the innings.
Lancashire might also reflect that they erred tactically, too. Under the amended playing conditions this year, the home county decide whether to make the heavy roller available in the game and each side can then utilise it for a maximum of seven minutes once in the match.
Nottinghamshire made it available but, by not utilising it ahead of their first innings, Lancashire sentenced themselves to batting on a pitch that had started damp and therefore become indented in Nottinghamshire's first innings.
Lancashire's logic was that rain would curtail play on the second day and they did not want to waste the use of the roller. But, as it happened, the 33.2 overs they faced was enough to see their top six dismissed and set the tone for the game. Nottinghamshire, by contract, used the heavy roller ahead of their second innings and saw the batting conditions improve markedly. Lancashire are highly likely to use it ahead of the final day, but the damage is surely already done.
Still, they insist they are looking to provide opportunities for their batsmen and the final day of this game - perhaps Peter Moores' final day of Championship cricket as Lancashire coach - certainly offers one.
The recklessness shown by Reece, the latest in a long-line of opening batsman that has included Smith and, improbably though it sounds, Stephen Parry (against Durham in 2009), suggests that the search for a reliable top-order batsman goes on.
If the final day of this game goes the way of Nottinghamshire, Lancashire may have to reconsider their admirable but self-defeating attitude towards an overseas player.
Lancashire were reduced to 77 for 6 by the time rain intervened, meaning they still require 46 more runs to avoid the follow-on. While conditions remain helpful for seam bowlers, this is something close to a second string attack for Nottinghamshire. Had Andre Adams, who has a calf injury, or Peter Siddle, who hopes to arrive on Tuesday having resolved his visa issues, been available, things could have been much worse for Lancashire.
This is not a new problem for them. In 2012, the year they were relegated in the County Championship, it was their batting that let them down. They passed 400 only twice in the season and only one batsman - Ashwell Prince - scored more than 700 runs. Prince was also the only man in the side to score a century at home.
So their failure to strengthen is a surprise. While the presence of Simon Katich helped them gain promotion last year - both he and Prince passed 1,000 Championship runs - there was little sign of improvement from the regular players, with no-one else reaching 750. With Katich retired, the burden on Prince who is now 36, appears excessive.
Help may be at hand. The club, keen to provide opportunities for their young batsmen, have yet to sign an overseas player and could call for reinforcements. Faf du Plessis, who made such a positive impression upon the club in his previous stint as a Kolpak registration in 2008-09, is one obvious candidate and would now be able to gain a visa as an overseas player.
But such measures tend to mask problems rather than solve them and Lancashire are, admirably, taking a longer-term view. They aim to provide room in the side for the likes of 23-year-old Luis Reece to develop into a high-quality player who could serve club and perhaps country for several years.
But, Reece apart, the lack of batsmen who have developed through the club's system is an obvious weakness and does threaten their Division One survival prospects. Karl Brown and Steven Croft, two locally developed players who were not selected for this match, do not have the first-class averages (26.32 and 31.29 respectively) to suggest they are the answer to Lancashire's problems.
Lancashire never looked likely to prosper in their first innings here. After Paul Horton, attempting to play across a full ball, was the only victim of a fine first spell from Luke Fletcher, Reece, with feet of cement, fenced at one he could have left off the decidedly slippery Harry Gurney.
Andrea Agathangelou lost his off stump having left one that nipped back, before Prince was drawn into poking at one he could have left to present Jake Ball with his maiden Championship wicket.
Ball, a rangy seamer, followed up with the delivery of the day, nipping back into the left-hander Luke Procter, to win a leg before decision. By the time Alex Davies' loose drive was beaten by another than nipped back, Lancashire were in something approaching disarray.
There is a little mitigation. Such early-season pitches magnify batting flaws and, had Glen Chapple and Kyle Hogg been available for Lancashire, it is likely that Nottinghamshire might have struggled to pass 200.
But take James Anderson out of this Lancashire side - and England surely will - and the county remains as overly-reliant on Chapple as it has for much of the last decade. And that, in turn, might have consequences for the coaching aspirations of Peter Moores.
For while Lancashire's long-term ambitions are clearly to be applauded, it would be an odd situation whereby the ECB employed their new coach from a team struggling towards the bottom of the Championship and seemingly unable to mend a long-existing weakness.
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