Alsop century thwarts Worcestershire promotion hopes

Alsop’s 137 not out – his fourth Championship hundred of the season – and valuable contributions from Oli Carter (55), Ali Orr (48) and Tom Clark (36) took Sussex to 312 for six, a lead of 92, when the players shook hands with 13 overs remaining at the 1st Central County Ground.

Worcestershire picked up 14 points but they are 28 points behind second-placed Middlesex with two games to play and will almost certainly be in the second division again next season. Sussex remain seventh and have little prospect of improving on that position with two matches to go. The visitors were ultimately left to rue the loss of 84 overs to the weather. There were a couple of moments on the final day when they sensed an opportunity but Alsop held things together impressively for the hosts.

Worcestershire coach Alex Gidman said, “I’m pretty frustrated and disappointed because I thought we played some exceptional cricket from the start. It almost feels like a loss. It’s always hard to force a result when you lose so much time on such a placid wicket so the lads deserve every credit for getting us into a position where we could have forced a win. I feel desperately sorry for them because they put in such a hard shift. One of our aims was to get more points than last year and we’ve done that with two games to go. We’ve gone toe to toe with every team in this division and I’m proud of the progress we’ve made.”