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ScorecardAndrew Gale has kept Yorkshire businesslike after the Championship has been won•Getty Images

For much of this game Sussex’s cricketers may have thought that Hampshire rather resembled Charles II in that they were taking an unconscionable time a-dying. Their insurance as they fought for parity against a powerful Yorkshire team at Headingley was that their rivals seemed to be finding it even more difficult to overcome Nottinghamshire. And they may have kept in the forefront of their minds the simple truth that if Hampshire did not win that match at Trent Bridge, they were relegated.Then, at just after three o’clock on the penultimate day of the season, those delicate equations began to change. As Nottinghamshire’s second-innings wickets fell to the pace of Fidel Edwards at Trent Bridge, Sussex surely realised that they may have a great deal of serious batting to do on the final day, albeit that they need only a draw to avoid relegation.On a day when 19 overs were lost to prolonged midday showers, Yorkshire extended their overnight 58-run lead beyond 300 and Andrew Gale could contemplate the possibility of his side achieving an eleventh County Championship victory. This would establish a new record for the 16-match format and it would make a fitting end to a season when honours and compliments have been lavished on Gale’s fine team like Christmas presents on a spoilt child.Nottinghamshire had runners-up prize money to play for but the attraction of mere lucre did not appear sufficient incentive for Chris Read’s players as they left Hampshire needing 200 to win and seemed to accommodate their opponents’ rapid progress towards that goal.None of this can have soothed Sussex’s players but they still battled manfully both to contain and to dismiss Yorkshire and by close of play they had succeeded to the extent that the home side were 298 for 9, a lead of 301 with a little power to add on the final morning of the season.Ed Joyce’s bowlers offered few free gifts on the third day of this game but the pitch had eased rather. They were also met with stern resistance from most of Yorkshire’s batsmen, but particularly from Gale, whose innings of 67 off 131 balls took him past a thousand County Championship runs for the season.Gale is a skilled mechanic of a batsman: he knows the tucks and drives that work for him and he does not worry about the shots he cannot play, the acceleration he does not possess. His innings currently suggests a measure of permanence, so it was almost a surprise when he fell into the trap set by Joyce and clipped Chris Liddle to Chris Jordan at leg gully just after tea.Sussex’s piece of rather smart cricket ended a 168-minute innings which had begun 15 minutes into the morning session after Gary Ballance had bottom-edged a ball from Steve Magoffin on to his stumps when playing a cramped and rather ugly cut. Eleven overs later Adam Lyth was dismissed in similar fashion for 39 by Lewis Hatchett and Jonny Bairstow strode out to join his skipper with the score on 123 for 3.The pair added 67 either side of the rain break and their 79-minute stand afforded one the opportunity to compare the styles of the two batsmen who have scored over a thousand Division One runs for Yorkshire in 2015.Gale, as has been suggested, is a trifle functional but mightily effective. Bairstow has developed into a batsman of glittering quality this season and one does not need to support England to hope that he will soon make a Test hundred. At Headingley, Chester-le-Street, Edgbaston and Scarborough, runs have flamed from his bat, their rapid acquisition helped by a more refined defence.Bairstow is now rarely bowled but he frequently demoralises bowlers. He has had a quiet match against Sussex – he was leg before to Jordan for a mere 36 on Thursday afternoon – but he still ends 2015 with a total of 1108 Championship runs in 12 completed innings at an average of 92.33. For many spectators, his batting has made the summer special, a coat-hook of memory by which it can be recalled.Bairstow was out just as wickets were falling in Nottingham and his departure was soon followed by those of both Leaning, a fine player who has had an indifferent couple of months, and Gale. The tension increased as the consequences of failure for Sussex became even more apparent. Had Hampshire lost, it did not matter how Sussex performed. Now it seemed certain that it was going to matter a very great deal.Gradually Adil Rashid, who made 21, and Tim Bresnan, who was unbeaten on 50 at the close, increased Yorkshire’s lead.The contest will be rejoined on the final morning of the season. The weather forecast is good and Sussex’s batsman will have to defy the best attack in the land. The prize on offer will not be a golden goblet but the quite invisible reward of mere survival. But should Ed Joyce’s players succeed in their goal, they may celebrate as if the pennant itself had returned to Hove and its sea-scented air.

According to reports in The Mirror on Thursday, Everton are reportedly confident they will beat Southampton to the £20m signing of out of favour Arsenal winger Theo Walcott this month.

The Toffees are keen to bring the England international to Goodison Park before the transfer window slams shut on January 31, and manager Sam Allardyce confirmed in his pre-match press conference on Friday that the club have opened negotiations over a deal for the 28-year-old.

Saints are also keen to re-sign him 12 years after he left for the Gunners, but the player’s reported £110,000-a-week wages and the fact that they are only above the relegation zone on goal difference could prove to be two big issues.

If the south coast outfit do miss out on Walcott they will be forced to look elsewhere for a wide player, and they may well choose to take another look at Pione Sisto, who The Mirror reported they wanted to sign from Danish side Midtjylland in 2016.

The Denmark international ended up joining La Liga outfit Celta Vigo instead, but Mauricio Pellegrino could be making a shrewd move by reigniting the club’s previous interest in the 22-year-old, who is rated at €15m (approximately £13.3m) according to Transfermarkt.

Here are three reasons Southampton must forget Walcott and reignite their interest in Sisto…

Goals and assists

Southampton boss Pellegrino will be looking for goals and assists from a new winger given that his team has only scored 21 goals in 22 Premier League matches this season, and there is no doubt that Sisto would be able to deliver.

The 22-year-old has more assists (nine) than any other player in La Liga this season in 18 Spanish top flight appearances for Celta Vigo, while he has also chipped in with two goals.

Sisto impressed for Midtjylland previously too with 31 goals and 11 assists in 112 games, while he caused the Republic of Ireland all sorts of problems with his speed, strength and technical ability as Denmark thrashed them 5-1 in their World Cup play-off.

Pace

You know that you’re going to get pace if you’ve got Theo Walcott in your side, and if Saints can’t sign him then they won’t be losing out on that acceleration if they buy Sisto instead.

The 22-year-old is super quick and can play on either flank, and there is no doubt that his direct style would prove to be a problem for opposition Premier League defenders.

According to WhoScored.com, the Denmark international has successfully completed 32 of the 68 dribbles he has attempted in 18 La Liga appearances this season, and like Sadio Mane often did for Saints, he would bring an unpredictability factor on the pitch for the south coast outfit.

Potential

While Walcott is a proven player at this level, his age and his reported wage demands mean that he isn’t the typical Southampton signing.

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The south coast outfit have tended to sign younger players that are out of favour at other clubs, before giving them a platform to play and improve to improve their value.

Signing Sisto, who celebrates his 23rd birthday next month, for a fee in the region of £13m would certainly be more like it for Saints, and the winger has the potential to go and become a big player for them both now and in the future.

Do you agree, Saints fans? Let us know below.

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	Ramnaresh Sarwan conceded poor shot selection contributed to West Indies’ struggles, but he managed to survive long enough to make 80 © Getty Images

Ramnaresh Sarwan says West Indies have been done no favours by a Providence Stadium pitch more typical of Sri Lankan grounds than Caribbean conditions. Sri Lanka have dominated the first Test in Guyana and Sarwan, who battled through 199 balls for his 80, said more pace and bounce would have been welcome.”The surface here is very similar to the ones they play on in Sri Lanka,” Sarwan said after the third day’s play. “When I toured Sri Lanka a few years ago it was the same sort of surface, Mahela [Jayawardene] seems to know the conditions pretty well with the sort of field placements that he has been putting forward to us.”You have to take into consideration the opposition you are playing against, whether you want a track that is faster and bouncier. So probably we want the opportunity to play on something that has more pace and bounce but that didn’t happen so we have to try and continue working hard as a team and try to work through that.”It has not been an easy task in the first three days and West Indies need their last pair, Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell, to add eight more runs on the fourth morning to avoid the follow-on. Sarwan was the only man to score a half-century as the home team finished the day at 269 for 9, and he said he never felt ‘in’ against Muttiah Muralitharan, who grabbed three wickets, while Chaminda Vaas also collected three.”Obviously they have the experience of Chaminda Vaas who has been doing this year in year out for them, especially on the flat surfaces they play on in Sri Lanka,” Sarwan said. “So basically it wasn’t a surprise to me because they know the conditions here pretty well.”You have to give credit to Sri Lanka. Their bowlers were pretty patient and the fact that they were bowling on one side of the wicket, they were having an attacking and a defensive field so it was pretty hard to get runs and also the discipline they showed.”Sarwan conceded poor shot selection contributed to West Indies’ poor showing but he was confident they were not yet out of the match. “First of all we have to save the follow-on then analyse it and put ourselves in a decent or good position,” Sarwan said.”There is still a lot of time left in the game. We have to make sure we play well as a team and continue to have a lot of partnerships going whether we’re bowling or batting.”

Ricky rats on Justin: “The little fella was never too far away from it” © Getty Images

It’s a move that Ricky Ponting has branded a bit rich. Justin Langer has called for no more sledging in county cricket – despite having areputation within the Australia set-up as a bit of a chatterbox.”There must be two Justin Langers in the world I think,” Ponting, the Australian captain, told newspaper when informedof Langer’s call. “I don’t know what’s happened there. But I know thelittle fella was never too far away from it if something was going on.”Langer, who recently retired from Tests but has taken up his positionat Somerset again, told newspaper: “I don’t believein it and it is something that has disturbed me over the years, particularly when Glenn McGrath and Ramnaresh Sarwan were involved inan ugly incident in 2003.” That incident involved an offensivereference to McGrath’s wife, Jane.There is only a small distinction between what’s acceptable and what isn’t in Langer’s book. “If the batsman comes out and the fieldersshout to the bowler, ‘He doesn’t like playing out-swingers’, then thatis a part of cricket, but there is a fine line between that and gamesmanship.”

ScorecardZimbabwe suffered a disappointing defeat in their warm-up match against West Indies Vice-Chancellor’s XI at Antigua’s Jolly Beach, losing by five wickets despite posting a seemingly match-winning score of 324 for 5.Piet Rinke led the way with his second hundred in three warm-up games, although concerns remained whether his no-holes-barred technique can stand up against top-flight bowling. He received good support from Brendan Taylor (80), Charles Coventry (54) and Keith Dabengwa (33).But the Zimbabweans’ bowling, which has been the stronger facet of their game so far on the tour, fell apart in the face of an onslaught from Ryan Hinds. His 117 set up the platform which Chadwick Walton (67*), Xavier Marshall (54) and Shirley Clarke (37) all capitalised on. Without Ed Rainsford, sidelined through injury, as was Terry Duffin, the attack lack penetration. That will worry the selectors as Rainsford leaves the tour to take up a club commitment in the UK after this weekend’s ODIs.Zimbabwe left Antigua and headed for Guyana, where they will meet the West Indies in a double header at the Bourda on Saturday and Sunday.