Sussex put Surrey in a spin

Sussex on a roll as Surrey struggle against spin quartet

Last updated: 22nd June 2009

Sussex put Surrey in a spin

Goodwin: Top score

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Twenty20 Cup - South Division
Hove
Surrey 123 v Sussex 125-4
Sussex beat Surrey by 6 wkts

Sussex's bid for a place in the quarter-finals of the Twenty20 Cup continued after a convincing six-wicket win over Surrey Brown Caps.

Sussex earned a fourth win in a row and stay top of the South Group after chasing down a modest target of 124 in just 16.5 overs.

The foundations for a successful chase were laid in an opening stand of 71 in ten overs between Murray Goodwin and Luke Wright, reprising the role he had enjoyed during England's World Cup campaign.

Surrey's innings never got any momentum as their batsmen were tied down by a quartet of Sussex spinners, with skipper Mike Yardy keeping them on for 13 unbroken overs before bringing back James Kirtley for the final over when he took two wickets.

However, it was Robin Martin-Jenkins who broke the back of the Surrey batting with three wickets in his new-ball spell - having Usman Afzaal caught off a spliced drive with his second ball.

Floodlight failure

A 30-minute delay because of floodlight problems ended and Scott Newman then lobbed a slower ball to short mid-wicket after the resumption before Martin-Jenkins also claimed the key wicket of Mark Ramprakash.

Sussex struggled and only found the boundary once in ten overs, with Yardy picking up two wickets in successive balls to remove Matt Spriegel and Stewart Walters.

Indian leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, in what will be his only Twenty20 appearance for Sussex, deceived James Benning and Chris Jordan with googlies and Surrey only got into three figures thanks to some late hits from Andre Nel.

In response, Wright belted three successive balls from Chris Jordan through the off side on his way to 31 from 26 balls before he was stumped after giving Afzaal the charge.

Matt Prior was trapped by Chris Schofield in the leg spinner's third over and Stewart Walters yorked Goodwin to claim a notable first Twenty20 scalp after the Zimbabwean had top-scored with 38 off 43 balls, including six fours.

But Dwayne Smith, who belted one straight six out of the ground, hit the winning boundary with 19 balls to spare.