A full house. Three away wins out of three to start the tournament. What could possibly go wrong?
If Sussex supporters arriving at Hove last Friday for the Vitality Blast T20 against Surrey had such notions, they were soon disabused of them.
When Jofra Archer dropped the simplest of return catches off Aaron Finch in the second over it felt like the Sharks would pay for their profligacy.
An hour or so later the Australian master-blaster walked off with 131 not out to his name.
With skipper Luke Wright failing, Sussex had no one to answer fire with fire and were eventually beaten by 52 runs – a trouncing in T20 terms, admittedly against very strong opponents.
“A reality check,” said head coach Jason Gillespie, with typical understatement.
Still, Gillespie would probably have settled for three wins out of four.
Already it looks a wide open south qualifying group and there is no need to panic.
But if Sussex are to reach the knockout stages for the first time since 2012 they could do with New Zealand batsman Tom Bruce finding some form and Tymal Mills regaining fitness and giving Wright another option with the ball.
Follow Bruce Talbot on Twitter @brucetalbot1.
