Middlesex 354-8 (50 overs)
Sussex Sharks 262 (43.5 overs)
Middlesex (4 points) beat Sussex Sharks (0 points) by 92 runs
Joe Cracknell’s maiden white-ball hundred underpinned Middlesex’s fourth consecutive Metro Bank One Day Cup win as they saw off Sussex to secure their first List A semi-final since 1990.
Cracknell struck 128 from 112 balls, sharing a third-wicket partnership of 202 with Nathan Fernandes (92 from 106) as their side recovered from losing two early wickets to post a formidable 354-8 at Radlett.
Half-centuries by former Middlesex man John Simpson (65 from 60) and Oli Carter (58 from 67) enabled the Sharks to mount a respectable reply but they were dismissed for 262 to end their campaign bottom of Group B with just one win.
Sebastian Morgan took 4-46 for group winners Middlesex who will now host either Lancashire or Durham in the semi-final at the same venue on Sunday (16 August).
Put in to bat, Middlesex found themselves in early difficulties when Toby Munt (4-90) struck twice – conceding successive boundaries to Josh de Caires before delivering the ideal response, a beauty that took out his off stump.
With Ben Geddes slashing to slip in Munt’s next over, the home side were 20-2 – but they never looked back as Cracknell and Fernandes proceeded to accumulate at a steady rate.
Cracknell was the more aggressive of the pair, utilising the pull shot to good effect as he dispatched Dan Ibrahim for the first six of the game and reached 50 at a run a ball while Fernandes followed suit just after drinks.
The left-hander promptly stepped up the pace, hitting Troy Henry for three successive fours – but the spinner had the final say, removing Fernandes courtesy of Freddie Price’s excellent diving catch on the run at long-on.
By then, Cracknell had passed his 87-ball century and, although he and Luke Hollman departed in quick succession, the baton was seized by Aaryan Sawant (25 from 14), cracking a trio of consecutive maximums off Freddie Price.
Eathan Bosch launched a merciless final-over assault against Munt, hammering 33 from just 10 deliveries to propel his side beyond 350 and Sussex were soon under pressure in pursuit of the target.
Charlie Tear, dropped at gully in the second over, reached 15 before Sebastian Morgan had him caught in the slips while Noah Cornwell’s consistent opening spell brought the wickets of Ibrahim and Jack Leaning.
Carter kept up the battle, surviving a chance to slip off Zafar Gohar and capitalising as he drove the spinner for six, then punched a cover boundary to bring up his first half-century of the tournament.
When Carter swept Hollman down the throat of deep square leg, the Sharks quickly sank to 120-6 – but any prospects of an early finish were dispelled by a spirited partnership of 73 between Simpson and Price (37 from 31).
Munt also swung the bat, smashing three sixes in his 26 from 25 before Morgan claimed the last two wickets to wrap up Middlesex’s victory.
Cracknell said: “It (his century) was a little bit of a relief, to be honest. There have been a few opportunities to get one over the line but I guess it was more pleasing today with a home semi-final on the line.
“After losing two early wickets, being in that partnership out there with Nathan (Fernandes) was special, and to top it off with winning the game and finishing top of the group was amazing.
“We’ve played a lot at Radlett and we know it can be hard to score but, equally, if you get hold of someone it can turn really quickly. We realised that to get to a score we wanted, we needed to have wickets in hand.
“You don’t have to be consciously teeing off – you can just play strong cricket shots and the outfield’s so quick you get high value.
“At some point over the last few weeks, everyone’s put in a match-winning performance – if it’s not been someone with the bat, it’s been one of the guys with the ball pegging things back. And that should give us confidence going into Sunday.”
Sussex coach Ash Wright said: “Middlesex are a very good team and, to be fair, they outplayed us. I wish them all the best for Sunday.
“We had a great start but the 50-over comp gives people so much time to regroup and go again and Middlesex did that really well and batted nicely.
“We struggled a little bit to get those wickets in the middle which meant they could go big at the end and, if I’m honest, they ended up being 50 to 60 over par from what we thought we could chase.
“They came at us hard with the ball and we found it hard to get it away to start with. You always want one person to go big and today we didn’t get that.
“We’ve had people go in and show real promise and get nice scores and cameos at the end and, apart from Charlie Tear, that’s been the story of the tournament.”
