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Wright flourish sees Sussex home

Luke Wright crashed 26 off only nine balls to see Sussex to a four-wicket Twenty20 Cup triumph over Hampshire.

Luke Wright kept his cool to fire an unbeaten 26 as Sussex got their Twenty20 Cup campaign off to a winning start with a four-wicket success over neighbours Hampshire.

Chasing a target of 153 before a crowd of 3,000 at Arundel, the hosts got there with five balls to spare.

Sussex turned the match their way by scoring 47 from the final 19 balls, with Wright sharing a sixth-wicket stand of 34 with skipper Chris Adams (43).

Adams fell to a brilliant running catch by Dimitri Mascarenhas in the penultimate over from Chris Tremlett, but new signing Yasir Arafat followed up by edging the England paceman for four before hoisting him high over the long-on boundary.

Wright saw his side home by cover driving the first ball of the final over from former Sussex fast bowler Billy Taylor to the boundary.

Needle between the sides surfaced with the run out of Matt Prior after the Sussex opener had scored 38.

Prior's reaction as he made his way off suggested he felt it was unsportsmanlike for Chris Benham to throw down the stumps when Dominic Thornely had Adams caught off a bump ball by Benham at short mid-wicket.

The ball was not dead when Benham broke the stumps and umpire Allan Jones gave the decision with Prior out of his ground.

Michael Carbury earlier fired 43 and Greg Lamb an unbeaten 55 as Hampshire posted 152-6 after being put in.

Hampshire, without talismanic captain Shane Warne who is having his injured shoulder assessed in Australia, posted 50 in five overs and were pegged back by Mushtaq Ahmed, who grabbed the first of his four victims by having Thornely caught at deep mid-wicket.

Mushtaq, waiting to hear whether he will be called into Pakistan's squad for their tour of England, removed opener Carbury and Mascarenhas in successive deliveries.

After firing six fours from 38 balls, Carbury was caught behind off a googly and Mushtaq then bowled Mascarenhas before Benham went the same way to the evergreen leg-spinner.

Jono McLean was run out cheaply after playing Mike Yardy backward of point, beaten by a throw to the bowler's end by James Kirtley.

But Lamb (four fours, one six) ended the innings with a flourish, hitting successive boundaries at the expense of off-spinner Ollie Rayner before hoisting medium-pacer Yardy high over the mid-wicket boundary.

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