Sussex Sharks 209-7 (29 overs)
Kent Spitfires 50-1 (5.4 overs)
No result
Sussex Sharks and Kent Spitfires are still looking for their first win in the Royal London Cup after playing four matches apiece.
Their Group A match at the 1st Central County Ground in Hove was abandoned in surreal circumstances with the Kent innings still 4.2 overs short of constituting a match. Both sides took a point each.
There were 34.4 overs of cricket which was something of a miracle with the rain and very strong winds and the floodlights burning brightly in the gloom.
A 29-over game was scheduled, with Kent deciding to field first. Sussex scored a slightly disappointing 209 for seven.
The highlight of their innings was a stand of 63 in eight overs between Travis Head (52), who made his third fifty of the campaign, and Ben Brown, with an inventive 38 from 29 deliveries in his first appearance in the competition this season.
Despite a late flurry of strokes from David Wiese, who made 31 from 23 balls, the Sussex score did not look enough.
And that feeling was strengthened when Kent captain Ollie Robinson and former Sussex academy player Tawanda Muyeye hit 48 from their first five overs.
But then came the heaviest rain of the day and the umpires had no alternative but to call the game off with Kent still short of batting the 10 overs that would have made a match.
The outcome means that Sussex and Kent have each lost two games and had two abandoned and both counties face an uphill struggle to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Head said: “We’ve had a few matches called off in the T20 and now a couple in this competition.
“There’s a big advantage batting second in these situations. It was disappointing not to bat in the final overs because I felt in good nick. It was frustrating not to go on and make a big score.”
On Sunday (1 August) Sussex host Gloucestershire at Hove and Head said: “We’ve got to make sure we’re ready for Sunday now. We’ve got to look to win all our remaining matches. We’ve got to rock up on Sunday and get stuck in and get a good result.”
