Middlesex 186-7 (20 overs)
Sussex Sharks 202-4 (20 overs)
Sussex Sharks win by 16 runs
James Coles smashed a career-best unbeaten 77 from 44 balls to set up a winning start to the Vitality Blast for the Sussex Sharks as they held off Middlesex at Lord’s.
The 21-year-old’s impressive knock, which included five sixes and five fours, underpinned his unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 88 from 47 with Tom Clark and ensured that last year’s Blast semi-finalists totalled 202-4.
That proved to be enough as the home side fell just short at 186-7 in reply, despite a maiden T20 half-century by Ben Geddes (51 from 37) and Ryan Higgins’s fearless late display of hitting to rack up 44 from 16.
Middlesex made an early breakthrough after winning the toss and opting to bowl. Noah Cornwell’s opening delivery was dragged on by Harrison Ward before John Simpson (22 from 12) and Daniel Hughes really got the scoreboard moving.
Hughes began to open up after Simpson’s departure, flaying Henry Brookes for successive leg-side sixes.
But the Australian’s knock of 38 from 20 came to an abrupt end as Tom Helm’s fingertips deflected Coles’s drive on to the stumps at the non-striker’s end.
Luke Hollman’s astute spell of one for 38 prevented Sussex from gaining greater traction – although the leg-spinner’s figures were dented by a trio of sixes from Coles who advanced to his third T20 half-century by drilling Cornwell over his head for four.
With Clark (26 from 21) taking on a supporting role, Coles scooped Higgins for another maximum as the pair accelerated during the death overs. They took 29 from the final nine balls of the innings to clamber above 200.
Former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, making his Middlesex debut, provided brief fireworks at the start of their reply, hitting two sixes in 14 from 12 before he fell to Ward’s smart diving catch on the point boundary.
But, although Geddes pummelled both Tymal Mills and Brad Currie over the fence, Sussex’s seamers achieved a degree of accuracy that had eluded the home bowlers and the required run-rate soon soared.
Stephen Eskinazi (34 from 30) shared a partnership of 58 from 45 with Geddes before he fell to another boundary catch off Currie (two for 38), while Leus du Plooy and Jack Davies both departed cheaply as Sussex turned the screw.
But a flurry of boundaries from Hollman (20 from nine) lifted the tempo and Higgins took up the baton, hammering Mills for two enormous sixes and two fours in the penultimate over to keep Middlesex’s faint hopes alive.
Ollie Robinson (three for 27) kept his cool though, sending down a near-flawless final over, having Geddes caught in the deep and then yorking Higgins to seal Sussex’s victory.
James Coles, who scored a career-best 77 from 44 balls for Sussex, said: “I thought I was struggling a little bit – I was going at a run a ball for quite a while.
“But I said to the lads as they were coming out it was one of those pitches where you probably needed to give yourself a chance.
“There was a bit of extra bounce, the slow ones were holding a fraction and then it’s just finding your moments where you can try to shift a bit of momentum which sometimes doesn’t come off and sometimes it does. Today it came off.
“On paper it did get close towards the end. Higgo played really well but luckily we were tight enough through the middle. It’s just about staying calm and I’d like to think it was inevitable we would win.
“They (Tymal Mills and Ollie Robinson) have both done it for so long now, you have so much trust that they know what they’re doing – as Robbo showed at the end.
“I could just tell he was going to get it done and that’s really reassuring.”
Ben Geddes, who hit his maiden T20 half-century for the home side, said: “It’s been brilliant coming to Middlesex.
“All the coaches have backed me a lot and given me the opportunity to go out and bat three in Maxi (Holden)’s spot and I’m pleased to have got a few runs.
“It’s nice to have got my first T20 50 at the home of cricket but it definitely would have been a lot sweeter if we could have chased the runs.
“Coles has played really well – we’ve got to give him credit – but we’ve probably not executed with the ball how we would have liked.
“Unfortunately, if you’re not quite on it at the death and a bloke’s on 60 and playing well, they can get a few extra.
“He (Ryan Higgins) played exceptionally well to give us a chance with phenomenal striking. Some of those shots were outrageous and it got us a chance in the last over.”
