Sussex won the toss on a sunny afternoon at Lord's and elected to bat, but they soon found themselves deep in trouble at 3-3. Ashley Noffke bowled Matt Prior with the 1st ball of the game and then Chad Keegan had visiting captain Chris Adams and Tony Cottey caught behind in his 2nd over. Robin Martin-Jenkins didn't last long either as he was caught well by Owais Shah at Mid-off to make the score 23-4. With a pitch that wasn’t doing a lot, Sussex needed a boost and it came from Murray Goodwin and Tim Ambrose who shared in a century stand. The partnership also suffered a long delay of around 10 minutes when Nash left the field injured, meaning that Strauss had to put on the pads and don the gloves. The next delay came in the form of rain, forcing the players to leave the field for around an hour and the match to be reduced to 39 overs a side. When Sussex resumed to finish their innings, they had 2.4 overs to face and despite 3 wickets from Abdul Razzaq, they managed to add a disappointing 27 runs, taking them to a score of 161-7.

Middlesex were given a revised target of 183 in 39 overs and got off to a rapid start, scoring over 60 in the first 11 overs. They were particularly harsh on Kevin Innes, taking 34 off his first four overs. James Kirtley also proved his worthiness as a like for like replacement for Steve Harmison, bowling 6 wides in his opening 5 over spell. When he was replaced by Martin-Jenkins the disaster began. Weekes was 1st to go, caught down the leg side and Shah followed in his next over when the ex-England batsman hung the bat out to dry and was caught behind.

Strauss continued to play fluently and reached a solid 50, before he was trapped lbw when attempting to sweep the ever-dangerous Mushtaq Ahmed. Ed Joyce and Abdur Razzaq tried their best to revive the innings and a straight six into the pavilion by the latter showed signs of hope. However, all the hope was dashed when both were caught in the deep, sparking a collapse with 7 wickets falling for 18 runs. Kevin Innes returned to take 5-7 in 3.2 overs giving him final figures of 5-41 as his team secured a 49 run win on the Duckworth/Lewis method.

SCORES:

SUSSEX INNINGS: (SUSSEX WON THE TOSS)

Prior b Noffke 0
Adams c Nash b Keegan 1
Goodwin not out 81
Cottey c Nash b Keegan 0
Martin-Jenkins c Shah b Noffke 5
Ambrose c and b Abdul Razzaq 44
Innes b Abdul Razzaq 10
Davis b Abdul Razzaq 6

Extras 14

Total (for 7 wickets, 39 overs) 161

Did not bat: Mushtaq Ahmed, Hopkinson, Kirtley


MIDDLESEX INNINGS: (REVISED TARGET: 183 OFF 39 OVERS)

Weekes c Ambrose b Martin-Jenkins 23
Strauss lbw b Mushtaq Ahmed 57
Shah c Ambrose b Martin-Jenkins 0
Joyce c Goodwin b Innes 12
Abdul Razzaq c Kirtley b Davis 16
Hutton c Ambrose b Innes 1
Cook lbw b Innes 0
Weston b Innes 5
Noffke c Martin-Jenkins b Davis 3
Nash not out 5
Keegan b Innes 3

Extras 8

Total (all out, 33.2 overs) 133

RESULT: SUSSEX WIN BY 49 RUNS (D/L METHOD)

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