Sussex 186 for 5 (Evans 63*, Rawlins 35) beat Glamorgan 88 (Rashid 3-9, Mills 3-20) by 98 runs
Scorecard
There is no stronger bowling attack in the Vitality Blast than Sussex and, if further emphasis was needed, Tymal Mills roused himself for his first T20 match of the season with a hat-trick to complete the obliteration of Glamorgan at Hove. A 98-run win, Glamorgan dispensed with for 88 in 13.3 overs, was just the fillip they needed in the first of three victories in four days that would deliver them a place in the quarter-finals.
Mills’ hat-trick was the third in the Blast this season, following his Sussex team-mate Jofra Archer and Kent;s Joe Denly, and it was Archer, perhaps more than anyone, who ensured Glamorgan’s pursuit of 187 – a tall order on a surface offering all the bowlers some encouragement – would be stillborn.
Few wickets are more prized in the Vitality Blast than that of Colin Ingram, Glamorgan’s captain, who was last seen on a home-produced video training by bashing a tyre with a sledgehammer. Sussex’s task was to make the wheels come off as fast as possible – and Archer ensured that they did.
If you need to dismiss Ingram early – a bulldozing batsman with an average of 67.67 and strike rate of 165 – then a bowler with Archer’s talent, tanking down the Hove slope at 90mph-plus, is as good a plan as any. Ingram was late on a pull and Harry Finch collected the catch at mid-off. In an instant, Glamorgan’s pursuit of 187, even allowing for a decent surface and a short legside boundary looked much further away.
That was just the opening that Rashid Khan, Sussex’s teenaged legspinner needed. Alongside great talent comes a maturity that belies his 19 years. He bowled Craig Meschede third ball with a googly and went on to take 3 for nine in 3 overs
Glamorgan would have joined Somerset and Gloucestershire as qualifers from South Group – a West Country trio in the last eight – had they forced victory. Instead, they must now await what could yet turn out to be a winner-takes-all affair against Surrey in Cardiff on Friday night.
Don’t talk to Sussex about the glorious English summer. Four of their 11 matches have been washouts, leaving them without a home victory and needing three wins in the last week to give themselves a decent chance of a quarter-final place.
They had a new captain, too, to try to guide them there – Danny Briggs, their softly-spoken yet tough-minded left-arm spinner, after Luke Wright had succumbed to “acute lower back pain” during training.
Sussex’s 186 for five owed much to Laurie Evans whose fifth hakf-century in nine matches revealed a solid temperament that was not always apparent at Birmingham Bears. With the Bears, he gave the impression of an uncomplicated hitter. Here he glued Sussex’s innings together – an innings that was always one wicket away from faltering -before blitzing 27 off his 67 runs against the last 10 balls he faced.
more follows later
Source: ESPN Crickinfo