County Championship: Sussex hold nerve to beat Gloucestershire

Sussex overcame stubborn Gloucestershire resistance to squeeze home by four wickets at Hove and go top of County Championship Division Two.

Chasing 144 to win in 49 overs, they still needed 29 when left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar picked up his fifth wicket but the nerveless Cheteshwar Pujara guided Sussex to victory with an unbeaten 44.

Miles Hammond (77) and Gohar (52) had given Gloucestershire hope with a seventh-wicket stand of 87, batting through the morning session to lodge their second half-centuries of the match.

Hammond became one of two victims in three balls for off-spinner Jack Carson and Jayden Seales finished the innings with wickets from successive deliveries as Gloucestershire were dismissed for 205.

Wary of the threat of rain, Sussex attacked the chase vigorously but the wily Gohar, who opened the bowling, stymied their progress by exploiting some turn to remove all three left-handers in Sussex’s top three.

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He had Tom Clark caught at short-leg off bat and pad in his second over and in his next the Pakistani had Tom Alsop lbw on the back foot.

Tom Haines was beaten in the flight and easily stumped looking to hit Gohar over the top and in the last over before tea James Coles was well taken low down at second slip by Ben Charlesworth as he propped forward.

Pujara and John Simpson steered their team into calmer waters by adding 42 before Gloucestershire caused more palpitations in the Hove crowd with wickets in successive overs.

Simpson dragged a short ball in Dom Goodman’s first over to mid-wicket and Fynn Hudson-Prentice became Gohar’s fifth victim when he missed a sweep.

With two fifties in the match and eight wickets Gohar did not deserve to be on the losing team.

Pujara, though, showed his experience and Danny Lamb passed 1,000 first-class runs when he hit the winning boundary.