Joyce sweeps Sussex to Lord's

The first of Ed Joyce's sixes was held by Vikram Banerjee but the Gloucestershire fielder stepped onto the boundary rope

Sussex are through to their 10th Lord’s final after a brilliant century from opener Ed Joyce set up a 34-run win over Gloucestershire in a high-scoring Friends Provident Trophy semi-final at Hove.

The 30-year-old Irishman, who made the last of his 17 one-day international appearances at the 2007 World Cup, struck a career-best 146 as Sussex piled up 326 for seven, their largest one-day total at Hove.

Alex Gidman’s decision to field first appeared to have backfired badly but the Gloucestershire skipper was determined to make amends when he matched Joyce with a one-day best of his own.

He was still there when the Gladiators began the last 10 overs needing 78, a gettable target on a brown, parched outfield.

But with the third ball of his second spell, Sussex skipper Mike Yardy had Gidman superbly caught by wicketkeeper Andrew Hodd for 116 made off 117 balls including 12 fours.

In the next over Hodd pulled off a leg-side stumping to remove the dangerous Steve Adshead and an asking rate of nine an over proved beyond Gloucestershire at the death.

After the early departure of Kadeer Ali, Gidman and Hamish Marshall had silenced a boisterous 6,500 crowd with a stand of 155 in 25 overs which kept the Gladiators well up with an asking rate of 6.5 runs per over.

Marshall played well within himself but still made 57 off 69 balls when he was run out by Joyce after Gidman refused his call for a risky single to short third man.

Two overs later Rory Hamilton-Brown trapped the dangerous Craig Spearman for two and there was now a discernable momentum shift in the Sharks’ favour.

Chris Taylor lost his middle stump to Yasir Arafat but it was Yardy’s left-arm spin which did the real damage in the closing overs as Gloucestershire’s last six wickets fell for 40 in 6.4 overs.

Luke Wright and Mike Yardy celebrate Alex Gidman's wicket, confirming Gloucestershire's exit from the competition

He finished with 4-54 including James Franklin and Steve Kirby off successive balls to finish off Gloucestershire for 292 with 14 balls to spare.

Earlier Joyce had played superbly for his third hundred in the competition this season which took his aggregate to 531 runs including three centuries.

From the start he looked determined to bat through the innings, which allowed Chris Nash (32) and Luke Wright (36) to give the innings early momentum.

But the punishing stand arrived when Joyce joined with Murray Goodwin to add 144 in 20 overs for the third wicket.

Goodwin contributed 60 before he fell in the 39th over, bowled by Jon Lewis giving himself room to clip the ball down the leg side.

At that stage Sussex were on course for a total in excess of 350 but Gloucestershire clawed them back well in the last ten overs when they took four wickets and only conceded 57 runs as Sussex’s big hitters perished in the pursuit of quick runs.

Joyce was eventually run out coming back for a second by Steve Kirby’s direct hit from long off after facing 139 balls and hitting 13 fours and three sixes.

The first of them was awarded after Vikram Banerjee claimed a catch on the backward square-leg boundary but put his back foot on the line as he did so. Joyce, on 91 at the time, was reprieved by the third umpire.

But if anyone deserved some luck it was Joyce, who will now return to Lord’s, where he spent nine seasons as a Middlesex player, with his new county on July 25 when Sussex face local rivals Hampshire.