Delray Rawlins impresses with ball in final county tune-up
Bermuda all-rounder Delray Rawlins completed a short pre-season ahead of the LV= Insurance County Championship with a five-wicket haul for Sussex in a drawn three-day university match with Durham UCCE today at Hove.
Rawlins backed up three for 27 from 19 overs of slow left arm in the first innings with two for 17 from six overs as the students batted out 28 overs before rain made no more play possible after tea.
However, Rawlins, who did not bat in Sussex’s first-innings score of 357 for four declared, failed with the bat when promoted to No 3 in the order for the second innings.
The left-hander was brought to the wicket with the score 82 when Ali Orr was dismissed for 23 from 82 balls, and minutes later Danial Ibrahim, who at 16 became the youngest maker of a county fifty last season, was retired out on 53 upon reaching the milestone on this occasion.
That left the stage clear for Rawlins to make his second decent score of the two-match pre-season after a useful 40 in the second innings of the three-day friendly with neighbourly rivals Surrey last week.
But the Bermudian lasted only five balls, perishing caught behind to a tentative prod against seam bowler Sebastian Allison, who was holding to a fifth-stump line. The ball before, Rawlins had made his only scoring stroke — a crunching blow for four through extra cover.
In all it was a sound run-out for Rawlins, who in addition to his five wickets, claimed two catches in the university side’s first innings yesterday — including a screamer diving to his left from third slip.
The county season begins for Sussex next Thursday with a home fixture at the 1st Central County Ground against Nottinghamshire.
Both clubs are in the second division after the reworked 2021 schedule brought on by the global pandemic.