County Championship 2022 | Cheteshwar back to the rescue for Sussex, yet again

The Day 2 of the Round 3 match between Worcestershire and Sussex culminated with the latter trailing by 322 runs at Worcester. 

The morning session of Day 2 saw pacer Grant Stewart draw the first blood against the opposition, picking up the wicket of Ben Cox getting, who walked back to the dugout at the score o 29 off 58 balls.

After the dismissal of Cox arrived, the pacer Joe Leach who provided a contribution of 24 off 26 balls and was dismissed by the part-timer Tom Clark.

The tail-ender Josh Baker and captain Brett DOliveira put together a stand of 85 runs, which further gave the team momentum to post a big total on the board.

Josh was dismissed on 43 off 65 balls, giving his wicket to Delray Rawlins. The other two bowlers, Charlie Morris and Dillon Pennington, could contribute 4 and 2 respectively and be dismissed by the team’s lead bowler Henry Crocombe.

After the impressive performance from the bat, Leach secured a breakthrough on the first ball of his opening spell to dismiss Alistair Orr for a duck. Then, on the brink of Tea break, Charlie Morris breached the defence of the Sussex captain Tom Haines.

Then the experience of Indian cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara came in handy for the team, as he stitched a partnership of 121 runs with Tom Clark.

With the partnership gradually getting more prominent, the Worcestershire captain called Leach for another spell. 

Tom Clark was dismissed on 44 off 106 balls, while Mohammad Rizwan was caught behind by beauty and made way to the pavilion for a golden duck.

At the end of Day 2, Sussex is trailing by 322 runs. Pujara is unbeaten on 85 off 157 balls, and Delray Rawlins has scored four* off 19 deliveries.

The gritty Cheteshwar Pujara (85* off 157) alongside Delray will resume their innings tomorrow. Cheteshwar Pujara will eye his century first and then pile on the runs to save the match for his side with the help of lower-order batters. Joe Leach has already bagged four wickets and will look for more tomorrow.

Brief scores on Day 2: 

Sussex- 169/5 

Cheteshwar Pujara 85*, Delray Rawlins 4*

Joe Leach 4/56

Worcestershire – 491/10 

Brett DOliveira 169, Ed Pollock 77

Tom Haines 3/50