County Championship 2022 Division II | Worcestershire secure a dominating victory over Sussex

Day 3 of the County Championship 2022 fixture between Worcestershire and Sussex ended with the former winning by an innings and 34 runs.

The Worcs bowlers were too good for the injury-hit Sussex team, as they ran down the whole batting order within a day. The Sussex team started the day at 169/5 but fell like a pack of cards.

It was another chastening performance from the Sussex team with the ball in this fixture, as they conceded 491 runs in the first innings. In their earlier fixtures, teams like Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire amassed 500+ runs as well.

Seasoned campaigner Cheteshwar Pujara returned as the best batter for the Sussex team with a century in the first innings. However, his heroics could not avoid the follow-on, as the team stuttered and was dismissed for a score of 269.

With the follow-on enforced, none of the Sussex batters could get starts and were dismissed early, barring the opener Alistair Orr who managed to score a fighting 33. In the lower order, Grant Steward remained unbeaten of 67 off 58, comprising three fours and five sixes.

Pakistan international Mohammad Rizwan was adjudged LBW with a peach from Ed Barnard. On the other hand, Dillon Pennington breached the defences of the centurion from the 1st innings, Pujara. Sussex's inning was eventually wrapped up for 188 and thus, were handed a defeat by an innings and 34 runs.

For Worcestershire, Brett D'Oliveira batted more than seven hours and registered an unbeaten 169, which propelled the team to a strong score, which proved to be enough, with Joe Leach wreaking havoc in both the innings.

With this crucial win, Worcs have now climbed to third place with 37 points under their belt and are tied equally on points with the second-place Glamorgan. On the other hand, Sussex languishes at the bottom of the table with no victories in three games.

The Sussex team will face Durham at Hove with a break of only four days, while Worcestershire will be up against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.