THERE was disappointment for Essex Eagles at the Ford County Ground on Monday evening when they opened their final Pro40 season.
Hero for Essex was Hashim Amla who followed up his debut County Championship century against Glamorgan with a debut one day ton.
However, his 111 in Essex’s 263 for eight wasn’t enough as Ed Joyce struck 91 and Dwayne Smith 60 not out to help holders Sussex to a four wicket Division One win.
Eagles, last season’s Division Two champions, batted first after winning the toss and made a very respectable start, Amla sharing an opening stand of 55 with Essex captain Mark Pettini and a second-wicket stand of 58 with Graham Napier.
James Foster weighed in with 65 as he and Amla put on 104 together.
Amla’s 111 came from 107 balls with seven fours and a six, but when he was caught and bowled by Yasir Arafat Essex lost four wickets for five runs before some late big hitting from James Middlebrook set a reasonable target. Middlebrook smashed 17 from nine balls to end the innings on a high.
Sussex opener Joyce, who struck 13 boundaries, shared stands of 66 with Luke Wright (21) and 65 with Murray Goodwin (41) as the Sharks chased down their target.
When he was caught by Foster off Grant Flower Sussex slipped to 179 for five, and Essex looked the likely winners but big-hitting Barbadian Smith regained the initiative, smashing 60 from just 34 balls, supported by Rory Hamilton-Brown’s 25 to give Sussex an opening-day win in the defence of their title.
This week Essex return to championship action against Surrey in a four day match starting on Wednesday at Guildford. They will be looking to build on the hard-fought match against Glamorgan last week when Eagles fought back to earn a valuable draw thanks to a second innings rearguard action.
Amla, on his Essex debut, made 181 runs before being out LBW off the bowling of Robert Croft. James Foster and Ryan ten Doeschate also contributed scores in the second innings.
On Sunday Essex are in Pro40 action against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham, starting at 1.45pm.
A County Championship four dayer begins at Grace Road against Leicestershire on Tuesday.