Brown Caps on the brink
Source -
sportinglife.com
A brilliant half-century from Michael Yardy rescued Sussex from the jaws of defeat as the Sharks secured a five-wicket win with 11 balls to spare over Surrey at The Oval.
Yardy made an unbeaten 68 from 43 balls and along with Carl Hopkinson (22) shared a sixth-wicket stand of 81 to condemn Surrey to their third consecutive defeat in the Twenty20 Cup.
Set a target of 132 for victory, Sussex were soon in trouble, losing their first wicket in the second over. Matt Prior (one) fell to a Tim Murtagh out-swinger and was easily taken behind the stumps.
Chris Adams started to attack the Surrey bowling with a couple of superb boundaries before both he and Chris Nash fell in Murtagh's third over. First to go was Nash (eight) caught at third man and then Adams (23) chipped to Alistair Brown at mid wicket.
Only two more runs were added when Yasir Arafat was dismissed without scoring in Ian Salisbury's first over.
He was soon followed by Richard Montgomerie for just 10, caught off an attempted sweep which left the Sharks struggling on 57 for five.
Earlier, superb bowling from Arafat (4-31) and Luke Wright (3-17) restricted Surrey to just 131 all out from their 20 overs.
Surrey began with Alistair Brown smashing James Kirtley to the extra cover boundary. However, Arafat soon snapped up Brown (four) chipping straight to Montgomerie at short mid-wicket.
With the score on 27, James Benning (17) was the second man to fall, brilliantly caught on the square leg boundary.
The fifty was brought up in the sixth over with a huge six over third man by Mark Ramprakash, and together with Rikki Clarke the pair shared a stand of 39 before Clarke was given out leg before for 14.
Only two runs were added when Jonathan Batty (one) fell in Wright's first over to a simple return catch as the Surrey wicketkeeper skied a pull shot.
Three balls later and Ramprakash (20) was snapped up on the third man boundary, leaving the Brown Caps struggling on 68 for five.
Azhar Mahmood and Scott Newman pushed the score along to 94 before Wright struck again in the 14th over.
Having been struck for a massive six over point the previous ball, Azhar (19) clubbed the next straight to Nash at long on.
Sean Heather's first over accounted for Tim Murtagh, trapped leg before. Then Kirtley returned to the attack in the penultimate over and went for 16 as Salisbury took advantage of some wayward bowling.
Three wickets fell in the last over; first to go was Scott Newman (24) ran out to a superb piece of fielding from Heather.
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