County round-up: Not a good opening for England hopefuls

England watch

The opening day of the Championship was not a good one for Middlesex collectively against Sussex at Hove nor two of their England hopefuls individually.

Sam Robson, touted as a potential Test opener, was caught behind off James Anyon for just 11. Eoin Morgan, who passed up his annual stint in the Indian Premier League in order to tilt for Kevin Pietersen’s Test place in the middle order, perished for a first-ball duck, bowled middle and off by Jon Lewis. Middlesex were all out for 105.

Michael Carberry, who opened with Alastair Cook in Australia, also fell without scoring on his return to action with Hampshire.

Bowler of the Day

Jon Lewis will be 39 in August but clearly has more miles in his legs. The former Gloucestershire seamer, who made his first-class debut in 1995, has spent the last two summers with Surrey but was allowed to leave after making only two Championship appearances last season. Snapped up by Sussex, he took 4 for 34 on his debut against Middlesex at Hove, including the aforementioned Morgan first ball, taking his career aggregate to 836 first-class wickets at a highly respectable 26.06.

Extras

Where the Australian bowler Peter Siddle’s debut for Nottinghamshire was delayed because of visa problems, Jacques Rudolph put off his scheduled first appearance for Glamorgan for a slightly more unusual reason: he was taking part in Iron Man South Africa. The 32-year-old former Yorkshire batsman, who played 48 Tests for South Africa, entered the triathlon event, which consists of a 3.8km swim in the sea, a 180km cycle and a 42.2km run, before he agreed to join Glamorgan and has been training for it since January.

At least when he does arrive in South Wales, he should be reasonably fit.