Sharks Devour Royals in Commanding Home Performance

Sussex beat Hampshire by nine wickets in the Friends Provident t20.

Sussex Sharks v Hampshire Royals
Friends Provident t20
Friday 18th June 2010
Hove

Summary
Sussex Sharks win by 9 wickets
Hampshire Royals: 132-8
Sussex Sharks: 136-1 (11.4 overs)

Hampshire became Sussex’s sixth t20 scalp of the season when a commanding batting performance from the Sharks – and Murray Goodwin in particular – made short work of a respectable total from the Royals.

Having hit 132 in their 20 overs, Hampshire knew that, though a win wasn’t going to be easy, it would be possible, especially if they could take some early wickets.

And they started in exactly the right way removing England man Matt Prior for a golden duck in the first over; the Sharks 1-1.

But that would be as good as it got for the visitors as a belligerent performance from Goodwin (76* off 36 balls, including eleven 4s and two 6s), ably supported by Brendon McCullum (59* off 33 deliveries including six 4s and four 6s) saw the league leaders play to form.

In the end Sussex ran out with a 9 wicket win inside 12 overs and Hampshire were left wondering what they could have possibly done to have stopped them.

Hampshire had won the toss and elected to bat first. And they were industrious without being extravagant, with a number of Royals scoring well, but nobody starring.

McKenzie top scored with 40 and put on an impressive partnership of 45 with Nic Pothas in the 6 overs they shared together. Indeed, Pothas didn’t do too badly himself, scoring 32.

Jimmy Adams chipped in with 31, although he might have felt a little disappointed having scored a century and a half in the last two games respectively.

Apart from those three no-one else could reach double figures and eight wickets fell by the end of the 20 overs. In truth, Sussex let the Royals off a little bit with some terrible fielding at times.

Briggs bowled Prior for a golden duck in the first over

But their complacency in the field was made up for with some intelligent and even some frankly extravagant shot choices with the bat.

McCullum attempted a Dilshan-style scoop shot which left him swinging at thin air and Nic Pothas looking at him bemused. But he wouldn’t be fooled twice, as he played the same shot – this time successfully - for a boundary which would take him to his 50 and the Sharks’ 100.

By this point, we’d only just made it through the half-way point in the innings and, rather than slowing down, the home side were just reaching top gear.

Knowing they needed to score at 7 an over for victory, the Sharks were going at a rate of 8 an over by the end of the 5th, 9 an over by the end of the 8th and the boundaries continued to come. At one point Goodwin crashed three boundaries in a row to see him successfully through the 50 mark!

As 7.30 approached and England kicked off against Algeria in the World Cup it seemed the Sussex players were in a rush to catch the action in South Africa and ploughed through with 8.2 overs to spare.

Hampshire don’t have long to analyse the result as they travel to Bristol to take on Gloucestershire in the same competition on Saturday night.

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