Picture by Eva Gilbert/Sussex Cricket. Ben Coad celebrates dismissing Tom Price lbw as one of his four early wickets.
Will Luxton scored a superb century to help set Yorkshire up for a convincing Metro Bank One-Day Cup win – by 184 runs on DLS – over Sussex Sharks at Hove which also saw Ben Coad star with a maiden List A five-wicket haul.
Luxton’s third first-team century – 117 off 115 balls – and second in this competition underpinned Yorkshire’s commanding 325-7 from 48 overs after some late morning rain delayed the contest very briefly.
Luxton shared a fourth-wicket 160 with Sam Whiteman, who played very nicely for 74 off 72 balls. The pair hit seven sixes between them, Luxton with four of them.
Coad then wreaked havoc at the start of Sussex’s chase, claiming three wickets in his first two overs as Sussex slipped to 7-3. He added a fourth as they crumbled to 21-5 and failed to recover, being bowled out for 140 inside 28 overs. The hosts were chasing a revised target of 325 in 48 overs and lost by 184 runs on DLS. Coad finished with eye-catching figures of 5-12 from seven overs.
Yorkshire have enjoyed a very impressive weekend on the road following Friday’s Group B win over Glamorgan at Neath, and last year’s semi-finalists are looking strong once again.
After Yorkshire were inserted, it was a strange old start to the game, with the visitors falling to 24-1 after only eight legitimate balls. Adam Lyth hit three fours as 17 came from the opening over bowled by left-arm seamer Toby Munt before he pulled the first ball of the second for six off another left-arm quick Sean Hunt.
The next ball was a wide on a pitch with good pace and carry before Lyth tried to pull the next ball for six and was caught at deep square-leg.
Will Bennison was well caught at backward point by Tom Price off Hunt not long afterwards, and when James Wharton was run out without scoring – a direct hit at the striker’s end by Jack Leaning at backward point – Yorkshire were 75-3 in the 11th over.
Picture by Eva Gilbert/Sussex Cricket. Will Luxton on the attack en-route to a seaside century today.
Luxton and Whiteman united and confidently advanced Yorkshire’s cause on a pitch with decent pace and carry, albeit the latter offered a sharp return chance to young seamer Freddie Hill on 29.
Luxton, aged 23, reached his fifty in 50 balls, and left-handed Whiteman later got to his in 60.
Luxton hit back-to-back sixes over long-off and long-on against the seam of Ollie Kirtley – son of ex-Sussex and England quick James – added to two fours in the 31st over as he moved to 97 and the score to 192-3.
Whiteman had only just reached his fifty by the time Luxton got to his third first-team hundred in 99 balls. Two of Luxton’s centuries have come in this competition – the first against Warwickshire at Rugby in 2024 – and the other in the Championship earlier this season. That four-day ton was also against the Bears at Scarborough.
Whiteman hit all three of his sixes over the leg-side as he and Luxton stepped on the gas.
Unfortunately, both departing in the space of three overs, leaving the score at 248-5 in the 39th, meant that Yorkshire didn’t get quite as many as looked likely at one stage. But even with 325 on the board, it always felt like being more than enough against an inexperienced Sussex side who had lost their first two matches.
Whiteman was brilliantly caught one-handed by Fynn Hudson-Prentice at cover off Munt before Luxton hoisted the same bowler out to long-off.
They had shared Yorkshire’s highest fourth-wicket partnership in List A matches against Sussex.
Picture by Eva Gilbert/Sussex Cricket. Sam Whiteman impressed for 74.
Fin Bean and captain Dom Bess also fell before George Hill and Kuldeep Yadav shared a quick-fire unbroken 42 for the eighth wicket inside the last four overs of the innings. Hill finished 40 not out and Kuldeep 22 unbeaten against a home side who opted not to bowl experienced heads Hudson-Prentice and Tom Price so they could give experience to others.
Then, it was over to Coad with the new ball.
Having missed a little over three months of first-team action from mid-April with a torn side, Coad returned to Yorkshire’s team for this competition’s opener against Hampshire at Scarborough on Tuesday, a game Yorkshire lost. He struck once before not playing at Neath.
With Anthony McGrath able to rotate his seamers in this competition, Coad was back in and put the final nails in a Sussex coffin which was pretty much shut at the midway point in this fixture.
He had openers Charlie Tear and George Thomas caught behind and bowled, the latter losing his middle stump, added to Tom Price lbw in his first two overs as the score fell to 7-3 in the fourth.
Dan Ibrahim was then caught behind before Ben Cliff had ex-Yorkshire batter Jack Leaning caught at mid-wicket by Whiteman with his first ball.
That left Sussex at 21-5 in the 11th over, with Cliff striking with his first ball for the second game running having done so on Friday as well.
Hudson-Prentice counter-attacked for 50 off 30 balls, including a couple of sixes. But it only added some kind of respectability to things. And even then, Yorkshire’s margin of victory was a landslide one.
Picture by Eva Gilbert/Sussex Cricket. Ben Coad excelled with the new ball to help Yorkshire claim their second win in three Group B matches.
Lyth struck twice in his first over, including getting Hudson-Prentice caught at long-on the ball after reaching his fifty. When Freddie Price chipped a return catch two balls later, Sussex were 93-7 in the 20th over.
Kuldeep bowled a cutting Munt shortly afterwards, uprooting middle and leg stumps before Sussex captain Jack Carson, like Hudson-Prentice had done, also counter-attacked and hit three leg-side sixes off a Kuldeep over which cost 23.
But he fell one short of a fifty when skewing Coad to cover – 134-9 in the 27th over.
Kuldeep then wrapped things up shortly afterwards by getting Hunt caught at long-off.
Yorkshire are next in action against defending champions Worcestershire Rapids at York on Wednesday to start an exciting few days which also sees Durham and Ben Stokes visit Clifton Park on Friday.
