Sussex beaten in a thrilling T20 match

Sussex faced Surrey in their opening Twenty20 match last night.

Surrey played against Hampshire on Wednesday in the T20 opener and were comfortably beaten. Both sides have made improvements to their squad over the winter. For Sussex, the big-hitting Dwayne Smith returns, Scott Styris is back and new signing Chris Jordan gives them extra depth. Glen Maxwell has joined Surrey this year and should strengthen their squad considerably.

The ground was nearly full, the sky pretty grey but it was still surprisingly warm. Seagulls flew overhead and there was a subtle buzz around the ground. Surrey won the toss and decided to bat first.

Surrey started well but with 32 runs on the board, Davies was caught by Wright off the bowling of Jordan. However, Roy and Solanki kept their cool and looked to be building a valuable partnership but Smith had other ideas. 74 runs were on the board, Smith came charging in and clean bowled Solanki. Not too long after and Roy was caught behind off the bowling of Liddle. Maxwell was then out soon after as he smashed one high and far but Hamilton-Brown sprinted round, dived full length and took an astonishing catch.

Wilson, Ansari and Mahmood batted well and helped Surrey reach 157-6 after their 20 overs. Strangely, Jordan, who had been very expensive throughout his overs, was picked to bowl the final over ahead of Smith who had taken 2-11 from three overs. This last over was a bit of a disaster for Sussex as 15 runs came from it, Beer dropped what looked like a sitter and there was a costly misfield.

At the halfway stage, Surrey were probably the slightly happier team but Sussex would have fancied their chances with a strong batting line up. However, they lost an early wicket as Nash was out for 12. Wright and Hamilton-Brown then hit some great shots but with 40 runs on the board, Wright was caught out. Smith came in at number four and there was a loud cheer as he came into bat. Perhaps foolishly, I turned to my friend and said this is either going to be really good or really bad, there’s no in-between.

Smith blocked a few balls and then hit a subtle and cheeky four and then…was out. He was bowled a quick ball and it looked quite high and there was maybe a chance that he had edged it to the keeper. To the crowd’s horror, he was quickly given out but it was announced that he was given out LBW which seemed like a strange decision. Yardy came in and was solid but he didn’t score quickly enough. Hamilton-Brown continued to bat excellently though but with 81 runs on the board he was out and Sussex were 81-4.

Styris was the next man in and he played fantastically, smashing some cracking boundaries. One of these boundaries was, shall we say, particularly eventful for me. The ball was struck immensely and it was going very fast and high. For a moment, I thought Maxwell would catch it but then I realised that he was going over him and was coming directly at me. I had a split-second thought to try and catch it but that thought didn’t last long.

It was going like a jet and my heart was up in my mouth, I tried to duck and the people around me did the same. The ball flew literally just over my shoulder and smashed a seat just behind me! All these emotions in the matter of a few seconds. For the next over or so, my heart was pounding! I’ve always said that I would love the ball to come near me and to have the chance to try and catch it but when it actually happened, I nearly wet myself with fear!

Not long later, Styris was caught out with 14 balls remaining and when this happened, it looked like there was just a bit too much to do. Mahmood bowled brilliantly and conceded just three runs from the penultimate over. Sussex needed 15 from the last over and it was Dernbach to bowl it, who had bowled wonderfully during the match. Sussex managed just four runs from it with Machan being bowled the last ball.

Surrey made up for Wednesday’s defeat and deserved to win. Sussex face Middlesex at Lord’s tomorrow and will be hoping to make amends for the defeat. Surrey play Kent at Canterbury tomorrow.