Sinking feeling for Sussex after Warwickshire cruise home

The news of Lancashire's enthralling Roses victory at Headingley was greeted with a groan of despair at Edgbaston on Saturday but Warwickshire kept their own County Championship chances very much alive with their fifth win in six matches, this one by an innings and 43 runs. They are now looking forward to their next game with keen anticipation, for it is against Lancashire at Liverpool on 1 August. Warwickshire are expecting to have Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the side by then. But that would require them to drop Jeetan Patel, the spinner who has taken 15 wickets in three innings; Lancashire will be watching the situation closely. Patel finished with figures of six for 111 to give him match figures of 10 for 163 – his first 10-wicket haul. For Sussex, this was a worrying result. They look an unbalanced team without their England players, Matt Prior and Luke Wright, and they are not batting well as a unit. The one piece of good news was the first show of form from their captain, Michael Yardy, who is still coming to terms with his problems with depression. His four previous championship innings had brought him 41 runs, with a best of 22. On Saturday though, he made an unbeaten 62 from 144 balls, with five fours and two driven sixes. It was in a hopeless cause but it will have given him much heart. Sussex resumed in the morning on 71 for two, still needing 191 to make Warwickshire bat again. Murray Goodwin had added two runs to his overnight one when he flicked Patel to midwicket. And Sussex were in deep trouble at 119 for four when Ed Joyce, who had made 74, was lbw to one that came back into him from Chris Woakes. Andrew Hodd, who had a disappointing game, thick-edged Woakes to William Porterfield at third slip and Sussex were six down for 148 when Ollie Rayner turned a Patel delivery into the hands of Varun Chopra at short leg. In the first innings, William Adkin had mooched around for ages but now he pushed diffidently forward to his first ball and edged it straight to Porterfield at second slip. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan slogged a few, before he was caught on the deep midwicket boundary, and Monty Panesar was ninth out at 193 when he fended a short one from Rikki Clarke to the wicketkeeper. Finally, Jimmy Anyon was lbw to Patel as he shouldered arms. Sussex's decision to bowl first had backfired badly.