"Sloppy backing up" to blame after Ali Orr's run of runouts continues

Sussex opener Orr has been run out in three successive County Championship matches

Sussex batter Ali Orr has been run out backing up at the non-striker's end in three successive County Championship matches, but his batting coach, Grant Flower, insisted that "it's definitely not bad luck".

Flower, the former Zimbabwe batter, was critical of Orr, who turned 22 earlier this month, who was run out for 198 via the fingertips of Ajaz Patel at the end of last season, and has since followed up with identical dismissals against both Durham seamer Ben Raine and Yorkshire's Ben Coad.

"It was sloppy backing up," Flower told the ECB Reporters Network. "He should be able to get back in his crease.  There's no excuse. And if it's the third time, it's just stupid."

Tom Haines, Orr's opening partner, has been the striking batter in all three cases and threw his hands onto his head after Coad began celebrating on Saturday.

"It's basic backing up," added Flower. "It's professional cricket, there's no excuse for it. The guy's a good player and he's still young, but this is costing him, and it's costing us as a team."

Sussex were cruising at 41 without loss when Orr was run out on Saturday, building up a sizeable lead over Yorkshire.

^{Orr has been run out backing up in three consecutive County Championship games (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)}

But his departure was swiftly followed by Tom Alsop's later in the same over to his first delivery, with Sussex then rolled for 137.

Yorkshire finished the third day at Hove in control, requiring just a further 63 runs for victory.

There was controversy, however, with Shai Hope surviving what Sussex considered a legitimate stumping, when the West Indies batter left his crease after the ball went through to wicketkeeper Oli Carter, who then broke the stumps.

"We noticed that he had left his crease once or twice in the first innings, and in the second innings, so we thought if he did it again we'd run him out," explained Flower, "which was the case. His bat wasn't in the ground and he hadn't got permission to leave the crease, so the ball wasn't dead.

"We got about four different answers from the umpires, so we're still confused ourselves.  It's totally annoying. The score was 54 for 3. The game was totally in the balance. He's an overseas player. He could have changed the match."

Related Topics

• County Championship Division Two roundup: Yorkshire close in on victory at Sussex