Sussex edge Taunton thriller

Murray Goodwin's 93 at better than a run a ball set up Sussex's triumph against previously unbeaten Somerset Sabres

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Murray Goodwin’s 93 led Sussex to a thrilling six-wicket Friends Provident Trophy quarter-final victory over Somerset at Taunton.

The game went down to the wire after the Sabres had posted 285 for eight, having won the toss. Things might have been different if Zander de Bruyn had not dropped Rory Hamilton-Brown at deep cover off the first ball of the 48th over with 27 runs still needed.

As it was, the Sharks got home with five balls to spare, with Ed Joyce making 74 and Michael Yardy unbeaten on 57. Yardy could have been run out by Justin Langer before scoring and Somerset were made to rue their fielding lapses.

Sussex might have said the same. James Kirtley dropped Craig Kieswetter at first slip before he had scored and the Sabres wicketkeeper went on to top score with a brilliant 106, while De Bruyn stroked an impressive 96.

Man-of-the-match Goodwin almost matched those efforts, scoring his 93 at just over a run a ball, with eight fours. He shared two stands of 89, first with Joyce and then with Yardy, to keep Sussex chasing around seven an over.

It rose to eight at one point and Somerset sensed a chance when Goodwin was trapped lbw by a slower ball from Peter Trego with 33 still needed. But after De Bruyn’s dropped catch, Yardy and Hamilton-Brown finished the game with a flourish.

Yardy played a key role, scoring his runs off 43 balls, with seven fours, and there was also a valuable contribution from Chris Nash, who made 41 batting at three after Joe Gatting had fallen in the first over.

Earlier, there had been a stunned silence around the County Ground when Marcus Trescothick drove the first ball of the game from Kirtley in the air straight to Robin Martin-Jenkins at mid-off.

Craig Kieswetter superb hundred aided Somerset's recovery from 39 for three

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Somerset would have been nought for two had Kirtley held the chance offered by Kieswetter.

James Hildreth never looked entirely comfortable in making 14 off 30 balls before falling lbw to Martin-Jenkins and it was 39 for three when the decision to promote Ben Phillips in the order backfired as he was bowled by a full-length ball from Yasir Arafat.

From then on it was all about Kieswetter and De Bruyn, who put together a sensible and at times exhilarating partnership of 167 in 30 overs.

Kieswetter blossomed from an uncertain start and began to demonstrate his immense potential with a series of powerful and sweetly-timed strokes. There were only three fours in his 66-ball half-century, but by the time he reached three figures he had extended that tally to 11, the second fifty occupying only 41 deliveries.

Eventually Kieswetter tried one big shot too many off Arafat and skied a catch to wicketkeeper Ben Brown. But together with the less flamboyant, but equally effective De Bruyn, he had put Somerset back in the match.

Trego gave a glimpse of his destructive powers with the bat before falling for 19 off just 12 balls, but things started to go awry again when Omari Banks appeared ahead of Langer and clipped a catch to midwicket off his first ball.

Langer, batting at eight, survived a mighty close lbw appeal before being bowled by off-spinner Nash for a single and it was left to Arul Suppiah to lift the Sabres’ total past 280 with a brisk unbeaten 21.