Royals sink Sharks at Hove

Luke Wright: made 122 from 100 balls before becoming part of a Sussex collapse

Michael Carberry: provided Hampshire with a blistering start in their run chase

Hampshire remain on course to complete a domestic cup double after seeing off Sussex by eight wickets to reach the Clydesdale Bank 40 final.

Just a week on from being crowned Friends Life t20 champions, the in-form Royals produced a blistering batting display to chase down a target of 220 with all of eight overs to spare at Hove.

Michael Carberry - a potential candidate to replace the now-retired Andrew Strauss at the top of England's Test order - led the way, the left-hander belting eight fours and five sixes to breeze his way to 68.

Fellow opener James Vince was hardly a slouch in his knock of 58, meaning Luke Wright's brilliant 122 earlier in the day ended up being in a losing cause.

Sussex had posted a total of 219-8 after winning the toss and opting to bat first, though they had seemed set to make plenty more than that when they eased to 159-1 with more than 10 overs to go.

Collapse

But from a position of strength they collapsed, losing seven wickets for 40 runs. A trio of batsmen went down with the score on 195, Wright one of them when he was caught at short third man off the bowling of Sean Ervine (3-36).

The England all-rounder had made the most of being dropped by Bilal Shafayat - playing in place of Neil McKenzie - on 35 in the deep, blasting three sixes and 15 fours to record his fourth limited-overs ton for Sussex.

Chris Nash (26) and Matt Prior (28) were happy to play second fiddle to Wright during respective stands of 71 and 88 at the top of the order.

However the dramatic slump in Sussex's fortunes - including losing five wickets in the space of 12 balls - saw the momentum swing the other way.

Hampshire's openers Carberry and Vince continued to heap more pain on the hosts with a fine partnership of 129, the former reaching his half-century from just 25 deliveries.

Will Beer eventually dismissed the pair to give Sussex a glimmer of hope, only for Simon Katich (47 not out) and Jimmy Adams (44no) to slam the door shut with an unbroken 92-run alliance that sent the Royals to Lord's.

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