'˜Vibes are still good,' insists Madsen after heavy defeat for Derbyshire

The reverse at Hove handed Sussex their first win of the new season and left Derbyshire languishing in the bottom three of the table without a victory in seven matches.

Madsen admitted it had been a tough four days for his team, but said: “There is still a good vibe in the squad. We’re fighting hard and we will work hard to find the consistency of performance we need.

“Being bowled out for 150 in the first innings put us under massive pressure against a good Sussex team.

“It’s a massive learning curve, particularly for our young bowlers, at the moment, and we have to make sure when we get back to red-ball cricket, we have learned from our mistakes and put things right.”

Dernyshire did at least have the satisfaction of making the hosts bat again after they made 307 in their second innings. But Sussex’s openers, Chris Nash and Ed Joyce, needed just three balls to knock off the 11 runs required to secure their first Championship triumph at Hove for more than a year.

Resuming the final day on 195-6, Derbyshire lost Matt Critchley in the fifth over after the start had been delayed until 1.10 pm because of rain. Critchley (20) gloved a lifter from Steve Magoffin before Ollie Robinson struck in successive overs.

Shiv Thakor, who had top scored in Derbyshire’s first innings total with 49, again impressed in making 81 from 102 balls at number six in the order. He struck ten fours and it needed a good delivery that held its line and found the edge to remove him.

Robinson had Tom Taylor (nine) caught by Ross Taylor, diving to his left at third slip in his next over, to leave Derbyshire 256-9, still requiring 41 to make Sussex bat again. But the home side were held up by some merry tailend hitting by Tony Palladino (29no) and Ben Cotton, who smashed 53 from 29 balls together before Cotton was bowled by Ajmal Shahzad for 25.

Sussex head coach Mark Davis said: “There’s a great sense of relief that we have got that first win.

“We haven’t had the best of things with the weather this season and when I got up this morning and saw the rain, I feared the worst. But our groundstaff did a terrific job, both today and on the first day when they got the ground fit for us to have 40 overs and take nine wickets, which really set us up for the victory. I thought we bowled well in both innings, and with the bat, we were relentless.”