No.9 and No.10 score centuries in remarkable comeback from 92/7

Something out of the ordinary happened on Friday, on day one of the Sussex-Surrey match in the ongoing season of county cricket.

Hold your breath! Two players, batting in at No.9 and No.10, scored a century! Have you heard that before? Probably not.

Anyway, England bowler and Sussex captain Ollie Robinson and offspinner Jack Carson came up with a once-in-a-lifetime performance at the Oval to enthrall the spectators not a little.

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After Surrey won the toss and decided to bowl on a super green deck, fast bowler Jordan Clark ran through the Sussex batting line-up. However, it wasn’t a straight-up act. After Tom Haines fell to Aussie Sean Abbott for a duck, Daniel Hughes and Tom Clark added 63 runs for the second wicket. And then Jordan wreaked havoc. In the blink of an eye, he completed his five-for as Sussex found themselves reeling at 92/7.

Carson then joined Fynn Hudson-Prentice, and both added 75 runs for the eighth wicket before the latter departed for a 58-ball 53. At that point, Robinson joined Carson, and both did something totally unthinkable.

They added 173 runs for the 9th stand. Carson, after scoring 105, fell to Matthew Fisher. Henry Crocombe joined Robinson at the crease, and shortly after, Robinson hit a six over deep midwicket to join Carson as century-makers.

Robinson then declared the innings on 358/9, and Surrey in their reply were 19/0 at the close of play.

Some rub of the green!

But both centuries were not chanceless. “Carson was dropped on 13, a hard high chance slashed to Pope at second slip off Abbott, but was looking secure by the time Hudson-Prentice was caught behind off Fisher in the 37th over,” Sussexcricket.co.uk wrote.

Robinson, on the other hand, was dropped by Adam Thomas on 21. “He offered a difficult chance on 21, to Adam Thomas running back from cover off Topley, and a clip on 67 fell just short of Pope at mid wicket, but otherwise Robinson was faultless in his application and selective shot-making as the pitch flattened out,” the website wrote in its report.

It was not some ordinary bowling unit against which Carson and Robinson piled on the runs. Dan Lawrence and Fisher have played Test cricket for England. Reece Topley, on the other hand, has played 65 white-ball international games. And Abbott has featured in 58 white-ball international games for Australia. So, there were four quality bowlers on display.

Robinson's batting prowess is pretty much a known fact now. In 2024, in one of the Test matches in India, he scored a resilient fifty and added 102 runs with Joe Root for the eighth wicket and frustrated the hosts not a little.

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