Sussex promoted from Division Two with game to spare after beating Gloucestershire; Henry Crocombe takes decisive wicket to spark celebrations; Sussex secured an emphatic victory over Gloucestershire within three days, winning by an innings and seven runs
Thursday 19 September 2024 16:37, UK
Sussex have been promoted to Division One of the County Championship for the first time in 10 years after a swift innings victory over Gloucestershire at Bristol.
Resuming on 140 for three in their second innings, trailing by 62 runs, Gloucestershire were skittled for 195 as Sussex needed less than a session of the third day to finish off their hosts.
Left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat claimed three for 39 and match figures of seven for 71, while Henry Crocombe took four for 22 as Sussex sealed victory by an innings and seven runs.
That saw Sussex take 21 points - to Gloucestershire's three - from an eighth Championship win of a memorable campaign and build an unassailable advantage over third-placed Middlesex.
When Crocombe claimed the final wicket at 12.08pm it provoked scenes of celebration, the seamer raising both arms in the air before joining in a group hug on the square involving the whole team.
The Division Two title awaits for the runaway leaders, who have been far and away the best and most consistent side in the division.
Sussex were on their game from the opening over on Thursday, which saw Chris Dent bowled by Unadkat's fifth delivery without adding to his overnight score of 61.
James Bracey could make only two before a thick edge off Ollie Robinson saw him snapped up by Tom Haines in the gully and it was 153 for six when Graeme van Buuren nicked Unadkat to wicketkeeper John Simpson.
Nightwatch Ed Middleton battled away for 64 balls and shared a seventh-wicket stand of 36 with Tom Price before edging another catch to Simpson off Crocombe to make it 189 for seven.
In his next over, Crocombe bowled Zafar Gohar with a yorker and removed Zaman Akhter's off stump with the following delivery.
The hat-trick ball was too wide and left alone by Dom Goodman but Gloucestershire's last man did not last much longer, trapped lbw by Crocombe for two, as Sussex celebrated victory and promotion.
Middlesex wrapped up their fifth win of the Division Two season to keep their promotion challenge mathematically still alive as a dismal Derbyshire succumbed to a three-day defeat by an innings and 66 runs at the Incora County Ground.
With skipper Toby Roland-Jones continuing his impressive streak of form with another five-wicket haul, Derbyshire - 74 for three overnight - were shot out for 119 after 87 minutes of the day's only session.
Roland-Jones finished with five for 38 for match figures of 10 for 72. The 36-year-old seamer has taken five wickets or more in six of his last nine innings to total 52 wickets for the season.
Ethan Bamber and leg spinner Luke Hollman picked up two wickets each, with 20-year-old left-arm seamer Noah Cornwell completing their demise with his maiden first-class wicket.
The result means the race for promotion goes down to the final round, although last week's defeat against Gloucestershire at Lord's left the odds stacked heavily against Middlesex, handing second-placed Yorkshire a 15-point advantage going into this week's games.
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