Sussex maintain winning run

England wicket keeper Matt Prior attempts to stump Stewart Walters as Surrey stutter to 123 all out against Sussex

Sussex strengthened their bid for a place in the quarter-finals of the Twenty20 Cup after a convincing six-wicket win over Surrey Brown Caps.

The win was Sussex’s fourth in a row and keeps them top of the South Group.

Chasing a modest target of 124, the Sharks coasted to victory in 16.5 overs leaving Surrey with only slender hopes of reaching the knockout stages.

The foundations for a successful chase were laid in an opening stand of 71 in 10 overs between Murray Goodwin and Luke Wright, reprising the role he had enjoyed during England’s ICC World Twenty20 campaign.

Wright belted three successive balls from Chris Jordan through the off side on his way to 31 from 26 balls before he was stumped after giving Usman Afzaal the charge.

Matt Prior was trapped by Chris Schofield in the leg spinner’s third over and Stewart Walters yorked Goodwin to claim a notable first Twenty20 scalp after the Zimbabwean had top-scored with 38 off 43 balls, including six fours.

But Dwayne Smith, who belted one straight six out of the ground, hit the winning boundary with 19 balls to spare.

Surrey’s innings never got any momentum as their batsmen were tied down by a quartet of Sussex spinners.

Skipper Mike Yardy employed his slow bowlers for 13 unbroken overs before bringing back James Kirtley for the final over when he took two wickets.

But it was Robin Martin-Jenkins who broke the back of the Surrey batting with three wickets in his new-ball spell.

He had Afzaal caught off a spliced drive with his second ball before a 30-minute delay because of floodlight problems.

When they resumed Scott Newman lobbed a slower ball to short mid-wicket and Martin-Jenkins claimed the key wicket of Mark Ramprakash who struck three fours in an over off Wright before he was superbly caught low down by Dwayne Smith at backward point.

Sussex then tied down Surrey with spin and only one boundary was scored in 10 overs.

Yardy picked up two wickets in successive balls to remove Matt Spriegel and Walters then Indian leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, in what will be his only Twenty20 appearance for Sussex, deceived James Benning and Chris Jordan with googlies.

Hamilton-Brown held a smart return catch to remove Gary Wilson and Surrey only got above 100 thanks to some lusty hitting from Andre Nel, who took 15 off the penultimate over from Hamilton-Brown.

Kirtley then returned to have Schofield superbly caught by Matt Prior off a top edge before he yorked Nel with the last ball of the innings.