The season’s first Super Sunday did not disappoint with regard to providing a few sturdy talking points as West Ham made the short trip across London to face Arsenal at the Emirates.Admittedly goalmouth action was few and far between during the Hammers’ surprise 2-0 victory but the Premier League debut of Reece Oxford (just a sweet 16) and some truly terrifying goalkeeping (if you’re an Arsenal fan) meant that fans up and down the country will be debating exactly what went down at the Emirates Stadium.Buckle yourself in and enjoy our Three things we learned from Arsenal vs West Ham…

1. Pinning hopes on Petr Cech *may* have been a tad premature

So… it turns out that simply buying Petr Cech does not guarantee success after all.

With weeks of commenters suggesting that Cech was the missing piece of the jigsaw, destined to bring Premier League glory back to north London, that theory seems to have imploded rather spectacularly.

The giant stopper has definitely at fault for Cheikhou Kouyaté’s opener after coming storming off his line to be stranded in No Man’s Land while Mauro Zarate’s snap turn for the second goal caught Cech flatfooted and way out of position.

Of course, it will take Cech time to bed in. But this won’t quite be the fairytale combination Arsenal fans dreamed it may be.

2. Bilic’s West Ham could be a beautiful thing

Facing your first test as a Premier League gaffa at the Emirates isn’t an enviable position to be in, but Slaven Bilic passed with flying colours.

A compact and disciplined display from the Hammers rendered Arsenal’s kaleidoscope of attacking talents relatively redundant throughout the match. Including Reece Oxford from the off was a ballsy move, while Mauro Zárate and Sakho up top looked a dangerous combo.

Kudos too, to Bilic, for resting up most of his players going into this game. Only two first team players started for the Hammers in the Europa League midweek and, while they crashed out of the tournament, Bilic will be having the last laugh for sure.

3. The future’s bright for Reece Oxford

16 years old and straight in for your Premier League debut against Arsenal at the Emirates? We’re not sure we can think of too many more daunting experiences in the world of football.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

But fair play to West Ham’s youngest ever player, he came through this one with great credit. A lung-bursting run alongside Sakho saw the striker too selfish to feed Oxford in around the 20 minute mark, while throughout Oxford marshalled his back four very well against the tiki-taka threat posed by the likes of Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey.

The future’s bright indeed for Oxford but perhaps it’s for the best not too talk it up too early.

Phillip DeFreitas needed just three deliveries to strike the first blow for Leicestershire at the start of their County Championship match with Somerset at Taunton.The former England all-rounder needed to be in a hurry because the three balls were the only ones bowled on an opening day that was a virtual wash-out.After heavy showers had delayed play until mid-afternoon, Leicestershire won the toss and invited the home side to bat.Somerset opener Mark Lathwell left one ball from DeFreitas and defended against another before edging the third and being well caught by wicketkeeper Neil Burns, moving to his right.The drizzle was already falling again and home skipper Jamie Cox stood at the other end with hands on hips, clearly far from happy, as Lathwell trooped off to be followed by the other players.More showers soon made the outfield treacherous and umpires Vanburn Holder and Trevor Jesty eventually abandoned play for the day at 4.40pm.All-rounder Jason Kerr passed a fitness test to be named in Somerset’s team, while Scott Boswell was selected by Leicestershire in place of the injured James Ormond.

New South Wales has scored a resounding seven wicket win over Tasmania with more than thirteen overs to spare in a rain-reduced Mercantile Mutual Cup match at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart today. A win which gave the Blues a second bonus point under the newly-revised rules in the Cup competition this season, it was achieved when Steve Waugh (75*) and Michael Bevan (43*) emphatically put the seal on some fine work from their team’s bowlers earlier in the day.The last time that these two sides each had their international players available to them for a one-day meeting (two seasons ago at this venue to be precise), Tasmania recorded a very easy win. Today, things could not have been more different.The gods smiled kindly on Waugh at the toss – for the second time here this week – and his decision to insert the Tasmanians yielded decisive results. By as quickly as the eleven over mark, the Tigers’ top and middle order lay in ruin and, notwithstanding a laudable fightback with the bat, the match was as good as over even by then.Disastrously, captain Jamie Cox (0) was lost to a run out only two deliveries into the innings and it set a poor tone for the next hour. The ill news continued when dashing left hander Michael DiVenuto (10) was well caught by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin to his left after forcing away from his body at a Nathan Bracken (2/21 off seven overs) ball which lifted on him. In the sixth over, the Blues struck probably their most crucial blow of all on the capricious pitch when Bracken found the outside edge of the normally broad Ricky Ponting (0) bat to conjure a catch for Mark Waugh at second slip. And then in the eleventh over, the horribly out of form Shaun Young (1) became the fourth man to depart after being well caught, low to the ground at backward point, by Mark Higgs off the medium pace of Shawn Bradstreet (1/22 from seven overs).This action had all come on the back of a two-hour delay caused by the unreadiness of the pitch at the western end of the Bellerive Oval square. While overcast, Hobart’s weather was perfectly fit for play to start on time this morning; however, the pitch was not. The force of the driving rain deposited at the ground by a late afternoon thunderstorm yesterday resulted in the appearance of several wet patches and they needed to be dried this morning before the midday start was made possible. This contributed to a reduction of the match to a thirty-eight over per side affair and granted the Blues the luxury of being able to exploit variability in bounce and healthy seam movement.Daniel Marsh (57*) again underlined his capabilities with the bat to lead a recovery, combining with Dene Hills (40) and Scott Kremerskothen (23) to both stabilise and add some scoring momentum to the innings. However, it was the Blues’ bowlers – and pacemen Bracken and Brett Lee (1/27 from eight) in particular – who clearly commanded most of the plaudits after the opening session. The Tigers’ eventual tally of 8/162, while respectable, never looked like it would be enough.When Haddin (2) and Michael Slater (18) let over-impetuosity get the better of them in a mad dash for quick runs at the start of the chase, the Tasmanians raised flickering hopes of an unlikely upset. But, following a few anxious early moments as he played and missed outside the line of off stump from the back foot, Steve Waugh (75* off 73 deliveries) was in command from there and the Blues careered away to victory. He clubbed nine fours and two sixes in a belligerent display, his most memorable blow coming in the form of an audacious lofted cut that slammed into the pavilion. With his brother Mark (22), the skipper added fifty-seven for the third wicket in quick time before stepping up the pace even further in a brutal, unbroken eighty-six run assault in the space of a mere thirty-five minutes for the fourth with Bevan (43* off 23 balls).In the end, the visitors had nearly six overs to spare in their pursuit of the bonus point offered to any side that can score at a rate at least one and a quarter runs per over times that of their opponents. The Tasmanians, for their part, looked aimless in the absence of their best one-day bowler, injured speedster Damien Wright. Young produced a brilliant catch running to deep extra cover from wide mid off, and Ponting a characteristic direct-hit run out from backward point. But that was about as much as a decent-sized home crowd was left to smile about.

	A batting-friendly surface at the Manuka Oval should come as a boost for the Sri Lankan batsmen after their capitulation at the SCG © Getty Images

India, at the halfway mark of their CB Series campaign, have the edge over Sri Lanka, whom they meet at the Manuka Oval on Tuesday. India completed a strong victory against Australia at the MCG, while Sri Lanka suffered a 128-run defeat to the same opponents last week.The game assumes significance for Sri Lanka, six points behind leaders India in the points table though with a game in hand, who have yet to catch fire in the tournament – their previous match against India was washed out after India’s innings.Most worrisome for Mahela Jayawardene, the captain, has been the team’s indifferent batting – apart from Kumar Sangakkara, none of the Sri Lankan batsmen showed character against Australia. “Our batting is a bit of concern,” he said. “You can have those days I suppose, just like what happened to the Aussies yesterday [against India]. They played seven batsmen, yet couldn’t get a competitive total on the board.” However, he felt there were enough runs in the wicket at the Manuka Oval if the batsmen got it right.The wicket is nothing different from the tracks in the subcontinent, except for the bounce. Considering the track is set to aid strokeplay, both teams are expected to opt for batting depth. India wouldn’t want to change a winning combination but Sri Lanka may bring in Farveez Maharoof, the allrounder, for Tillakaratne Dilshan, who is recovering from a bout of infection.Following their unfinished game at the Gabba, where they racked up 267 for 4, India will look to push forward the psychological advantage built by their batsmen against a Sri Lankan attack that’s been below par despite the presence of Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga. Only the young Ishara Amerasinghe kept the Indians in check with accurate bowling even when his seniors failed to build pressure. Harbhajan Singh, the offspinner, was especially pleased by the manner in which his batsmen dealt with the danger of Murali. “The way we played Murali was very good,” he said. “He got two early wickets but he gave away 50-odd runs.”For India, as the summer extends, every game is proving to be a profitable exercise. Harbhajan believes the team has more belief after every win and the hunger is increasing each day.”We have young guys who are all raring to go,” he said. “We played very well yesterday and we will stick to the same sort of the rhythm in the next game and try to win every game from here onwards.”Every game is different. It doesn’t matter what Sri Lanka did in the last game. It’s going to be a good challenge for both sides and we’ll put up our best show.”Jayawardene, however believes the competition is wide open now and says a Sri Lankan win tomorrow will even things out. “The challenge for them is to be consistent and the challenge for us is to challenge ourselves.”The match is also a special occasion for the locals given that international cricket is returning to Canberra after a 16-year hiatus. However, visiting teams have stopped over for the traditional contests against the Prime Minister’s XI, just like India did before the Perth Test this season.Teams
India (likely) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 7 Robin Uthappa, 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Sreesanth, 11 Ishant SharmaSri Lanka (likely) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Chamara Silva, 7 Farveez Maharoof, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Lasith Malinga 10 Ishara Amerasinghe 11 Muttiah Muralitharan

Australia A bowled out South Africa A for 171, but there was no fearsome fast-bowling display nor were the spinners particularly spiteful. It simply looked like a decent bowling attack keeping to their disciplines and waiting for the opposition to make mistakes.And there were plenty of those. Dean Elgar and Reeza Hendricks, the set batsmen, holed out in the deep on 28 and 43 respectively. Cody Chetty charged at the 20th ball he faced and dragged it onto his stumps. Theunis de Bruyn pushed a half-hearted drive straight to short cover and Dane Vilas was strangled down the leg side. Five of the top-six batsmen contributed to their own dismissals and left the team at 141 for 5.”We didn’t do anything special with the ball,” Australia A captain Usman Khawaja said. “We bowled straight, guys hit a good length. In all honesty, and I’m not trying to sledge South Africa, but they just didn’t play up to their best. They didn’t play very well today and we played well enough to be all over them and use that momentum to get wickets nice and quick.”Their middle order sort of let them down a little bit today, that was probably the only difference.” Evidence of that is in the fact that there were five single-digit partnerships and only one that went past 29.Hendricks, who was South Africa A’s top-scorer with 43, admitted they did not cope with a slow and low pitch. Seven of the XI were playing competitive cricket for the first time since March, Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s absence stretches to last December and although Vilas made his Test debut last week, he did not get to bat.”I think we didn’t execute well today and it just didn’t come off for us. Obviously, we tried to get the runs because we were bogged down which led to false shots which obviously got us out caught.”We are not used to this back home where pitches have more bounce and are quicker. But here it’s a bit slow, and a bit lower. Just a few things we need to adapt to [in our games]. Playing the ball late, it is turning more than it does back home as well.”But now we know what it’s all about. We’ve experienced it today and so come Sunday and the next games, hopefully we can do well. “Creating that kind of pressure and lulling batsmen into false shots, though, is only possible if bowlers keep to their disciplines. And Australia A did. All five used went at under 4.50 an over and legspinner Cameron Boyce was especially good at shifting the momentum back to Australia A after a 73-run opening stand.He dismissed a solid-looking Elgar with lack of pace and loopy flight. The batsman was looking for an easy single with a chip over short midwicket and instead found himself playing too early and lobbing a catch to long-on rushing in. Boyce was introduced in the 11th over when South Africa A were 47 for 0, bowled his full quota in one spell and by the time it was done in the 29th, the score had barely snailed past 100.”The reason I gave him 10 overs was he was just bowling so well and I just said keep bowling,” Khawaja said. “Hopefully he’ll take wickets, legspinners usually take wickets more times than not so I just kept him going. And [Ashton] Agar at the other end was bowling really well too. And then the quicks came on and it was reversing a little bit. Just all in all, it was a very good bowling performance.”So why couldn’t South Africa A reciprocate the template when they bowled? The simple answer was that Khawaja and his opening partner Joe Burns adapted to conditions a lot better. They put on 142 without breaking a sweat. In the 14th over, when legspinner Eddie Leie was introduced, Australia A were 76 for 0 and the required rate was 2.59.”By the time [Eddie] Leie came on and Dean [Elgar] bowled, the game was just about over anyway,” Khawaja said.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:41

Taylor ton sets up England win

England clawed their way back into the ODI series against Australia with a 93-run victory at Old Trafford.A maiden international century from Man of the Match James Taylor provided the bedrock of England’s total of 300, before their spinners went to work on a dry surface, claiming 5 for 73 between them in 20 overs. Moeen Ali finished with career-best ODI figures while Adil Rashid has never bowled better in an England shirt.It was England’s first win in eight ODIs against Australia and only their second in 13. It means the sides go to Headingley with the series poised at 2-1 with two to play.There are, as ever, some caveats. It was an important toss that England won, with the pitch turning considerably by the end, while Australia were missing seven of the XI that played in the World Cup final a few months ago and are very much a team in transition. But, with a couple of obvious additions – David Warner and James Faulkner in particular – it may not be far from the side that represents them in the 2019 World Cup. Both these teams are in a redevelopment phase.Australia will also reflect that they had opportunities to bowl England out far more cheaply. Eoin Morgan was missed – a relatively simple stumping chance to Matthew Wade off the impressive debutant Ashton Agar – when he had 15 and Taylor would have been given out leg before off Glenn Maxwell for 41 had Australia utilised their DRS referral.It was, in some ways, a slightly old-fashioned performance from England. Taylor, demonstrating the leadership qualities that saw him promoted to the vice-captaincy for this game, faced 47 dot balls in his innings and only managed one boundary in his first 50 runs.But, while he never threatened to score at a run a ball and never threatened to be pretty, he manoeuvred the ball well, scampered 47 singles and, even when his colleagues failed and the innings faltered, kept his head and ensured his side posted a competitive total. It was, for its unruffled calm, its maturity and its judgement, almost Jonathan Trott-esque.James Taylor celebrates his maiden ODI hundred•Getty Images

And, if the total was a little less than seemed probable at one stage, it still required a record run chase. The highest successful chase in an ODI at Old Trafford is 285, but that was in a 55-over a side game. In a 50-over game, it is 242.Still, when England were 205 for 2 with 17 overs to go, it seemed a score of something approaching 350 was possible. But Australia’s new-look attack bowled with impressive control and maturity and England managed only 100 runs for the loss of six wickets in the final 18 overs of their innings. The ball became much more difficult to time as it aged.Perhaps for that reason, the most fluent batting in either innings came from the opening batsmen, Jason Roy and Aaron Finch. At one stage Roy, mixing touch and power in a manner that speaks volumes for his development as a batsman, took a jaded-looking Mitchell Starc for four boundaries in five balls.But batting at the other end appeared far less straightforward. Alex Hales, timing the ball sweetly enough but unable to pierce the field, managed 9 from 31 balls before clipping to midwicket and when Roy was lured down the pitch and drawn into a miscued drive, it seemed England’s momentum would falter.After a torrid start against the hostile Pat Cummins, Morgan helped Taylor add 119 in 18 overs and provide the platform for England’s total. While he looked uncomfortable against Cummins’ short ball – the bowler was clocked at almost 96 mph – he eventually found something approaching fluency.But after he fell, slogging the first ball of a new spell from Maxwell to mid-on, the anticipated acceleration never came. Stokes’ increasingly torturous innings was ended by a top-edged sweep to mid-on, Jonny Bairstow was run out by a brilliant direct hit from Smith, Moeen top-edged an attempted pull and Liam Plunkett was run out after over-committing while backing up to Taylor.While Taylor reached his century in the penultimate over of the innings – fittingly enough, brought up with a scrambled single – it was left to Chris Woakes’ late slogging to help England reach 300.Australia rarely threatened their target. While Finch, recalled after injury, looked in sublime form, Joe Burns horribly mistimed to mid-off and the spinners choked the innings into submission on a surface proving them with plenty of assistance. Smith was brilliantly caught by Steven Finn at midwicket – a full length diving effort – as he attempted to skip down the pitch and flick him through the leg side and Finch, frustrated by Rashid’s turn, control and variations, holed out to long-on.Maxwell flourished briefly but, after two successive reverse-sweeps for four, his attempt at a third resulted only in a top edge to the keeper and George Bailey’s uncomfortable innings ended when he slogged a full toss to deep midwicket.Victory was all but assured by the time Roy, at deep midwicket, appeared to have misjudged a tough chance but then dived backwards to cling on to an outstanding, one-handed, juggling catch.Maybe, in the long term, this is a performance that will confuse the England management. It remains hard to see a place for Taylor in the side once Joe Root returns and the continuing struggles of Stokes with the bat are a concern. But selectors would rather leave out good players than include inadequate ones and, after a couple of chastening defeats, this was a performance that not only kept the series alive, but will encourage a developing side that they are on the right track.

Graeme Smith, the former South Africa captain who took charge of his country’s Test fortunes as a callow 22-year-old in 2003, hopes that Jason Holder can put the team politics to one side when he takes over as West Indies’ Test captain for the first time in Sri Lanka next month.Holder, 23, was named as Denesh Ramdin’s successor for the two-Test series that gets underway in Galle on October 14 after displaying impressive leadership credentials at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year. Coming only months after a pay dispute led to West Indies’ withdrawal from their tour of India in October 2014 – a move that landed the WICB with a multimillion dollar bill for compensation which is still being thrashed out – the team battled back from an early defeat against Ireland to reach the quarter-finals, where they eventually lost to the finalists, New Zealand.Despite his tender years, Holder has already received the endorsement of one of the region’s greatest players, Brian Lara, who praised his “demeanour” during that tournament and likened his stature to that of a young Clive Lloyd.”Clive Lloyd was not the best batsman, he was not the best bowler back in the early 70s but you could tell that a lot of the players respected him,” Lara told ESPNcricinfo ahead of the Help for Heroes charity match at The Oval. “I hope that Jason gets the same respect from the players, and also the board. He finds himself in a very tough situation where there are unhappy players but if the board give him the support that he needs and he can express himself, then he can become a very successful captain.”There are no better role models for young captains than Smith, whose tenure began against the backdrop of South Africa’s humiliating early exit as hosts of the 2003 World Cup, and with the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal still an open wound for many of the country’s leading cricketers. He went on to lead South Africa for 11 years and a record 109 Tests after being appointed at an even younger age than Holder.However, Smith recalled how he had been forced to learn on the job in the early years of his captaincy and warned that Holder would face as many challenges from outside the dressing-room as from within it.”I think he’s got to understand the unique challenges within West Indies cricket,” Smith told ESPNcricinfo. “From my perspective I had to do that in South African cricket also. It took me three or four years to come to terms with it.””I think when I was 26, I had captained South Africa for four years and I only really started figuring it out then. I think that next period was probably my best period as captain, when I understood my team, the type of players I had, myself as a leader, and how I wanted the team to play.”Smith sustained his authority in the intervening years through his sheer weight of runs, not least his extraordinary scores of 277 and 259 in the opening two Tests of the tour of England in 2003. But, by his own admission, he “bumped his head” as a leader on several occasions, not least during a feisty one-day series in 2004 when he was outmanoeuvred by New Zealand’s veteran captain, Stephen Fleming.”The sooner [Holder] learns his own strengths and weaknesses, the better he’ll be able to lead that team,” Smith said. “We all know West Indies has the unique challenges. I wish him all the best but we all know it’s not going to be easy.”Smith added that the best means of sustaining his authority and escaping the pressures caused by the inter-island rivalries that have often beset cricket in the Caribbean was for Holder to foster a team environment that protects and nurtures West Indies’ competitive spirit.”You’ve got to separate the two,” he said. “You have to understand and manage that space as well as possible outside, but if you can protect that environment, you can get those players playing for you and get the most out of them.””The minute the two environments leak [into each other], when there’s a lot of politics, it’s tough. He’s got to find a way of galvanizing that environment, and create a culture within that team space where the players want to play for him, want to do well, and separate the two in many ways.”Lara praised the selectors for the appointment of Holder, but reiterated the need for the WICB to follow that move up by backing their captain. However, he also believed the new leader would be fully capable of looking after himself.”He’s a tall, good-looking guy,” said Lara. “Nobody would have backed Clive Lloyd into a corner back in the day, looking for a fight. I don’t think anyone is going to back Jason Holder into a corner. I think he’s going to get a lot of respect from his team-mates.”

India seamer Zaheer Khan has announced his retirement from international and first-class cricket. He will, however, continue to play in the IPL for one more season.With 610 international wickets, Zaheer finishes as one of India’s most successful bowlers, being the fourth-highest wicket-taker for India across formats. He has the second-highest wickets tally – 311 – for an India seamer in Tests, behind Kapil Dev’s 434. Zaheer, though, played few international matches in recent years after being dogged by injuries. An injury he sustained to his bowling arm in May 2014 had put him out of action for a long time, although he managed to play seven games in this year’s IPL.While his final Test was against New Zealand in Wellington early last year, his last ODI was more than three years ago, against Sri Lanka in Pallekele. He ends his international career with 92 Tests, 200 ODIs and 17 T20Is to his name.In a statement, Zaheer thanked his team-mates in the various sides he played for, and said his greatest moment was winning the World Cup in 2011. “Cricket has been my only life over the past two decades and is in fact the only thing I know well. Cricket has made me the individual that I am, giving me everything in life and much more. I walk away with fantastic memories, life-defining experiences and great friendships. My mother summarised it well in reaction to my decision: ” (fair enough, I had a wonderful journey).He traced his journey “as a kid from the small town of Shrirampur (Maharashtra)” to his stint at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore in 1996 and at the MRF Pace Academy to his eventual debut for India in 2000. Referring to a favourite newspaper headline, he hinted at his future plans, saying, “Zak is back’ is perhaps a headline that may come my way again as I have every intention of giving back to this game.”Zaheer finishes his Test career with an average of 32.94 and ODI career with 282 wickets at 29.43. After his international debut in 2000, his most prominent performance in Tests came on the England tour of 2007 when he finished with 18 wickets at an average of 20.33. In ODIs, he played a vital role as the leader of the pace attack during India’s victorious 2011 World Cup campaign with 21 wickets to finish as the join-highest wicket-taker.”He feels with a hurt shoulder he cannot bowl at his best for him to perform at international level consistently, so he has decided to call it a day,” Zaheer’s mentor Sudhir Naik told ESPNcricinfo.”He served Indian cricket with remarkable passion and commitment,” BCCI preisdent Shashank Manohar said in a release. “Being a fast bowler in the Indian sub continent is challenging but he led the bowling attack with distinction and contributed significantly to the success of Indian cricket .I wish him all the best for the future.”

Mark Davis has been promoted to Sussex head coach following the appointment of Mark Robinson as the new coach of the England Women’s team.Davis, 44, was an offspinner and made his Sussex debut in 2001, having previously played first-class cricket in South Africa where he was born, and he was appointed Sussex 2nd XI coach in 2005.He will form a new coach-captain pairing with Luke Wright who was appointed club captain in place of Ed Joyce following the 2015 season where Sussex were relegated from Division One in the County Championship.”I’m very excited and honoured to be taking over as the new head coach at Sussex, and continuing the work that Peter Moores initially began, and that Mark Robinson continued so brilliantly. I’d like to thank Mark for everything and wish him well for his future role,” Davis said.”We will be working hard to continue with the values that Sussex stands for and to ensure that the county competes at the forefront of English cricket. We have a fantastic squad which has a good mix of youth and experience and we have some exciting challenges ahead. I am looking forward to working alongside our new captain Luke Wright.”Sussex’s chief executive Zac Toumazi said: “Today’s news has mixed emotions for us as a club. We are sorry to see Mark Robinson leave us as he has been a loyal servant to Sussex cricket. I am sure he will be a fantastic asset at the ECB.”Following an ongoing review of our professional cricket structure, we are delighted to announce that Mark Davis will assume the role of head coach. This is a fantastic opportunity for Mark and chance for him to work closely with our newly-appointed captain Luke Wright.”

The Yorkshire Phoenix went down to their second National League defeat in two days when they lost to the Northamptonshire Steelbacks. On Saturday they lost by 51 runs to the Gloucestershire Gladiators and on Sunday they lost by 60 runs with six overs left.However when the Steelbacks were 34 for three after 13 overs it looked like the Phoenix were on course for an easy victory. Matthew Hoggard celebrated his call up to the test squad with two early wickets. In his first over he had Rollins caught by Byas at second slip. Then he had Steelbacks’ captain Matthew Hayden caught behind by stand in stumper McGrath. The Steelbacks only added another 11 runs when they lost their third wicket. Loye was caught by Fellows in the covers off Gavin Hamilton.David Sales and Jeffrey Cook put on 70 on for the fourth wicket. The fifty partnership came up in 14 overs. Cook a 28 year old Australian in his second season with the Steelbacks, had a life early in his innings, when Middlebrook drooped him at point. Jeff Cook who has lived in this country since 1993 and is now qualified for England was eventually out when he holed out to Hamilton at long on from the bowling off Darren Lehmann for 33.Sales now began to push the score along. He hit Middlebrook for two sixes in two overs over long on. Then he hit him for a huge straight six. Together with Penberthy the pair added 60 in ten overs before Penberthy was bowled by a slower ball from Gough.Hoggard came back into the attack and dismissed Graeme Swann, who was caught by Fellows. However, Hoggard’s last two overs cost him 24 runs. In the last over of the Steelbacks innings Gough bowled Ripley for a duck and the Steelbacks closed on 189 for seven. Sales remained unbeaten on 71.Vaughan and Fellows got the Phoenix off to a confident start before Vaughan was caught by a diving Ripley off Devon Malcolm. Fellows and Byas upped the scoring rate, but after hitting two fours Fellows lofted first change Brown to Sales at deep mid on. Opening bowler Strong was brought back into the attack and had immediate success. He bowled Lehmann with an inswinger which came off his pad. Byas swept Brown and was out LBW for 21. The Phoenix had slipped from 50 for one to 69 for four.Hamilton was in for six balls for his five before he clipped Penberthy to Hayden at mid wicket. McGrath and Blakey added 35 for the sixth wicket but they could not find the boundary. The last four in the Phoenix innings came in the 15th over. Blakey had a wild swipe at Swann and was bowled for 16. Middlebrook scored one then he clipped Hayden to Swann at mid wicket, to give Hayden his first wicket in the National League this season.McGrath became the eighth man out when he lofted Swann to Cook at long on for 32. It was an eventful day for Anthony McGrath. He top scored for the Phoenix in his first National League match of the season. He also kept wicket for the first 13 overs of the Steelbacks innings because Blakey did not start the match due to a migraine attack.The last two Phoenix wickets added another nine to the total. Both Sidebottom and Hoggard were bowled by Swann for three and a duck respectively. Gough was not out on six and the Phoenix were all out for 129. Swann finished with four wickets for 14, his best figures in the National League this season.