Sussex Sharks 342-9 (49.3 overs)
Lancashire 338-7 (50 overs)
Sussex Sharks win by one wicket
Sussex Sharks’ hopes of progressing to the knockout stages of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup are alive after they squeezed past Lancashire by one wicket with three balls to spare in a thriller at Hove.
With a target of 339, Tom Clark’s 139 and Tom Haines’s 90 appeared to have done the hard bit by adding 232 in 32 overs.
It was a new second-wicket record in 50 overs cricket for the county and left 98 needed from 17 overs with eight wickets in hand.
Instead, they collapsed in a flurry of poor shots to lose six wickets for 27 runs in 47 balls. When Archie Lenham was eighth out, Sussex needed 39 from 27 balls. But Jack Carson and Henry Crocombe held their nerve.
Carson hit Charlie Barnard straight for six in the 48th over before launching Tom Bailey over mid-wicket and out of the ground in the next.
With one to win, there was another twist when Crocombe was lbw to left-arm spinner Charlie Barnard off the second delivery of the final over.
But last man Sean Hunt bunted the next ball back over Barnard’s head to seal Sussex’s second win in four Group B games.
Lancashire were in a good position at halfway after openers Michael Jones and George Bell put on 157 before Harry Singh’s 74 took them to their highest 50 overs total against Sussex.
Josh Bohannon picked up Charlie Tear with his second ball but Clark and Haines then took control. The two left-handers didn’t offer a chance until Clark, on 120, top-edged a sweep but Barnard, running in from mid-wicket, couldn’t hold on as he dived forward.
Clark deserved that fortune given the quality of his stroke play, particularly his inside-out driving through the off and his ability to find the gaps on the leg side. The 24-year-old can seldom have batted with more freedom in any format for his county.
None of the seven bowlers employed could tie either of them down until a tired Clark was bowled by off-spinner Arav Shetty in the 34th over. He faced 109 balls and hit 16 fours and five sixes.
With an end to attack, Lancashire were transformed. Shetty, in only his third List A game, finished with 3 for 51 while 20-year-old Barnard, who conceded 23 in his first two overs, ended up with 4 for 56.
Lancashire’s 338-7 was underpinned by a fine opening stand of 157 in 25 overs by Jones and Bell, a new List A best against Sussex for the first wicket, beating David Lloyd and Farokh Engineer’s 146 at Blackpool in 1976.
Jones was the more aggressive, hitting three sixes in his 77-ball 82 before he mistimed a drive at leg-spinner Lenham and was caught at extra at cover.
Bell played nicely for his 66 off 74 balls until he mistimed a sweep at off-spinner Carson.
Between them Sussex’s two slow bowlers took a respectable 3 for 90 in 18 overs in batter-friendly conditions but it was harder work for their seam attack on a sweltering afternoon.
Left-armer Hunt returned after nearly three months out and picked up a wicket and there were two in two balls for Crocombe, who finished with 3 for 61.
But 21-year-old Singh propelled Lancashire beyond 300 with some very impressive ball-striking and placement, hitting five sixes in his 61-ball 74 which was a career best to boot.
Tom Clark, who made 139 for Sussex, said: “Tom (Haines) and I are best mates and have played together since we were very young.
“But we don’t tend to have the best partnerships together so it was really nice to spend such a long time in the middle.
“We had a good chat after losing to Middlesex at Lord’s on Sunday about our roles and having more clarity so we just tried to take a positive approach and not get bogged down.
“We knew it was a very good pitch and if we played good, strong cricket shots and trusted ourselves and the surface we had a chance.
“We lost those wickets but credit to Jack (Carson) and Henry (Crocombe) at the end. They did a great job.”
Lancashire captain Marcus Harris said: “It’s not often a young team shows that sort of fight. To get back into the position we did was a good sign of the character of the group.
“Obviously it’s disappointing not to win but sometimes you can learn more from a loss.
“When they were eight down, I thought we were in with a good chance but the short boundary on one side can be targeted and a lot of things still have to go right to win from that position.
“We might have been a few short and we felt 350 was the par score – in the end the difference was one of their batters making a hundred and none of ours doing that so full credit to them.”
