IRELAND'S prospects of causing an upset against Sussex were about as bleak as the weather at Ormeau yesterday. By the end of a rain-interrupted first day in this NatWest Trophy first-round tie, Sussex had reached 323 for seven, with five overs of their innings still remaining.

That's just 11 runs short of the highest total against Ireland in this competition, scored by Leicestershire 10 years ago. Fortunately, three wickets fell in close succession just before the umpires pulled stumps for the fourth and final time, preventing Sussex from reaching a total somewhere in the region of 400.

Perhaps the biggest mistake was in the playing of this game at Ormeau, where the pace and bounce of the pitch is roughly similar to that at Hove. Having played on a few puddings on this side of the Irish Sea, the Sussex players must have been pleasantly surprised. Had they also won the toss and been given the chance to bowl under a grey sky, they most probably would have finished the game in one day after all.

The conditions provided some early assistance for the Irish seamers. Mark Patterson had a confident lbw shout against Bill Athey in his first over and then Keith Greenfield appeared to nick Ryan Eagleson to Alan Rutherford. Sixty-seven runs from the first 15 overs represented something of an achievement, but it wasn't until the 22nd over that the openers were separated, when Greenfield edged Derek Heasley to Rutherford.

By this stage the field was well spread for the arrival of Alan Wells, who accelerated towards the lunch interval, using his feet against Garfield Harrison and punching the ball into gaps. Dotballs were few and far between.

Hoping to slip in a few overs unnoticed, Justin Benson gratefully received a return catch from Athey in the penultimate over before the break. Then Martin Speight was less explosive than at Hove earlier in the year but still scored a run a ball to take the rate past five an over.

The ground fielding suffered slightly on a bumpy and greasy outfield and Wells was put down on a couple of occasions, but Paul McCrum and Patterson stuck to their task well. Heasley took two more wickets courtesy of fine catches on the boundary by Declan Moore and Angus Dunlop. The first of those accounted for Wells just after he had reached his century from 92 balls with 13 boundaries.