Sussex (181-2) beat Essex (178-9) by eight wickets
A masterful exhibition of stunning hitting from openers Harrison Ward and Daniel Hughes gave Sussex the platform for an eight-wicket victory at Chelmsford this evening (Friday 14 June).
The visitors won their third T20 match in succession with 26 balls to spare against an Essex team who had axed their Vitality Blast captain Simon Harmer.
The first-wicket pair put on 99 inside eight overs – including 32 from a Daniel Sams over – as 10 sixes rained down all around the Chelmsford ground.
The Australian Hughes claimed four of them in his 18-ball 47 and Ward chipped in with three in his 68 from 36.
However, it was left to John Simpson to hit Luc Benkenstein for 10 off two balls in the 16th over to complete Sussex’s fourth success in five Blast matches this season.
In turn, Essex, put in, failed to post the sort of score that might have been expected after Dean Elgar (54) anchored two fifty-run stands with stand-in captain Adam Rossington and Michael Pepper.
But when Pepper was dismissed for a 26-ball 51, it precipitated a clatter of eight Essex wickets for 54 runs in 43 balls. They finished on a decidedly below-par 178-9.
Ward and Hughes went off like trains as they hammered eight fours in 11 balls from Shane Snater and Aaron Beard. And it did not stop there.
After Ben Allison arrested the onslaught with just five conceded off the fourth over, Sams was dumped for 644666 in an incredible over of power hitting from Hughes. At one stage the pair had hit 50 from nine balls.
Hughes had raced to 47 when he swept Matt Critchley into deep square-leg’s hands. By the halfway point, Sussex required just 50 runs more for a facile win.
But they lost Ward, caught behind off Allison, the one bright spark with the ball on a dismal evening for the home team.
The pre-match news that Harmer, who would have been playing his 100th T20 game for Essex, had been omitted from the team – rested or dropped depending on who you asked – was almost as seismic as the on-field carnage.
It perhaps wasn’t totally surprising given that he had not taken a wicket in Essex’s first five Blast games and contributed just 17 runs with the bat.
Rossington helped Elgar put on 50 for the first wicket inside six overs although the captain’s contribution was 16 from 11 balls before he got an inside edge as he attempted to swipe Ollie Robinson out of the ground.
Elgar had survived a drop at slip by Tom Alsop on nought but, while he outscored Rossington, he was comprehensively outgunned by Pepper for the second fifty stand of the innings.
Pepper hammered 40 of those runs, including four sixes to different parts of the ground off the Sussex spin pair Danny Lamb and James Coles.
Pepper reached his half-century from 24 but two balls later he lofted Nathan McAndrew to backward square leg to precipitate the collapse. McAndrew struck again when his next delivery had a bemused Jordan Cox bowled.
Paul Walter became a third wicket in five balls as he advanced down the wicket against Jack Carson and was stumped. Elgar reached his fifty with a straight six but again fell almost immediately, lobbing Coles tamely to mid-on.
The earlier onslaught became a distant memory as Matt Critchley swished at Coles and was bowled, Daniel Sams departed to a catch at deep square leg, giving McAndrew (3 for 33) another wicket.
And Luc Benkenstein attempted a reverse sweep and lost his off-stump after hitting Robinson for six over midwicket. Carson took a third catch in the match, dismissing Snater at deep mid-on.
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After the match, with Sussex atop the south table, McAndrew said: “It was a great win for the team.
“Essex are obviously an incredibly strong team themselves so to come here to Chelmsford, which is a tough place to play, and put in a performance like that is really pleasing.
“We probably didn’t start too well with the ball. I think they batted well. We were a little sloppy in the field with a few too many easy boundaries but I thought we did a really good job clawing it back.
“The powerplay was by far the easiest time to bat for both sides. We saw that with how aggressive they were in the powerplay.
“But the wicket was a little bit two-paced. The slower balls were quite effective once the field went back. It was easier to defend.
“We were expecting to go for a few runs in the powerplay and we executed it a lot better from the 11th over onwards and did a really good job and kept taking wickets from there which helped stop the run-rate.
“There was some really clean hitting for us in our powerplay. I think the boys played good shots as well. They were getting after the ball.
“It was what we spoke about in the break between the innings. We saw from Rossington and Elgar that they got through their powerplay by playing good, controlled shots and making the most of the hard ball.
“The guys who played the best looked like they played good cricket shots. With the size of the boundaries, they got value for their runs.
“There is a bit of a mindset change from last year. There’s almost an expectation to win. It’s almost the new Sussex in a way.
“There have been a couple of tough years for the club in the past but last year we saw the red-ball team change their fortune.
“I’m amazed how some of our young players have taken to T20 cricket because it’s not an easy game for young players. There’s so much happening.
“There’s so much to process mentally and it does often take time to build up. They’re playing really fearless cricket and getting away with it. Why shouldn’t they be confident!”
