Jamie Smith made his maiden T20 fifty but rain spoiled the outcome © Getty Images
Surrey 175 for 7 (Smith 57, Mills ) vs Sussex 43 for 1 – Match abandoned
The Sussex Sharks and Surrey were just one ball away from completing a Vitality Blast match at Hove when umpires Tim Robinson and Paul Baldwin led the players from the field. They did not return, so each team took one point from a no-result.
Surrey had scored a challenging 175 for 7 at the 1st Central County Ground and with rain in the air the Sharks openers Luke Wright and Phil Salt began their innings at a hectic tempo in order to get ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern rate. They took 36 runs off the first three overs and at 43 for 1 off 4.5 over were well ahead on the DLS.
But with the fifth ball of a Kyle Jamieson over the New Zealand bowler struck Sussex skipper Wright on the helmet. With light rain falling and the light deteriorating the umpires conferred and then left the field with the players as a number of the controlled maximum crowd of 2500 vented their frustration. To make a match a minimum of five overs had to be bowled.
With 24.5 overs bowled, this game became the longest-ever T20 to finish as a no-result and the outcome was particularly disappointing for Sussex, who were well positioned. They lost their first game in the competition to Gloucestershire on Friday and before that they had three games washed out.
Surrey had made a positive start to their innings after Sussex chose to field, scoring 29 from their first three overs. But when Tymal Mills replaced Ollie Robinson at the Cromwell Road end he struck with his first delivery, as Will Jacks skied to Wright at long-off.
Former Sussex batsman Laurie Evans looked in good touch against his old team-mates and hit Robinson for two sixes in an over, flicking him to long leg before hoisting him over midwicket for another maximum.
Rain drove the players off the field for an hour after 6.1 overs, when Surrey were 53 for 1. When they returned the innings was anchored by Jamie Smith, who reached his fifty off 40 deliveries, with two fours and a six. He then hit Robinson for another six, over extra cover, before he walked across his stumps in an attempt to work the ball to leg and lost his leg stump.
England quick Chris Jordan bowled only one over and came off early with an apparent injury. There was a brutal cameo at the end from Jamie Overton, who hit three sixes and two fours in a 14-ball 28. But it all counted for nothing at the end of the damp day.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo