v Glamorgan (H) Tues 14th August 2018 T20

Current league table:

Somerset P 13 20pts
Gloucestershire P12 18pts
Kent P12 16pts
Glamorgan P12 15pts
Surrey P12 12pts
Sussex P11 12pts
Essex P12 6pts
Hants P12 5pts
Middlesex P12 4pts

Remaining games for sides challenging for 3rd/4th place:

Kent – Somerset (H), Essex (A)
Glamorgan – Sussex (A), Surrey (H)
Surrey – Hampshire (H), Glamorgan (A)
Sussex – Glamorgan (H), Gloucestershire (A), Middlesex (H)

As we come down to the final week of the T20 Blast pre-knock out phase, it’s clear Sussex need a good week with, hopefully, no more rain. I find it strange that each county plays six teams both home and away and two teams only once when there must be enough gaps to slot in two more games. A win against Glamorgan can make a huge difference. Basically, a win means that our fate is in our own hands; a defeat means we are almost certainly out of the competition.

Sussex might feel confident as they approach the game after a convincing 8 wicket win in the T20 match at Cardiff and another convincing innings victory more recently at Hove in the County Championship. But, we all know T20 games are strange beasts and things can go wrong plus, of course, Sussex are yet to win a T20 game at Hove this season.

Glamorgan’s run of five consecutive T20 wins hit the buffers on Sunday when leaders Somerset beat Glamorgan by 29 runs. Glamorgan have consistently scored around 190 and deservedly sit in fourth place in the Southern Group table. However, a win for Sussex means that Sussex would be one point behind Glamorgan with a game in hand. A win would still leave Sussex two points behind Kent in third place having played the same number of games but with an inferior run rate. It’s likely that this all boils down to Glamorgan being our target to qualify for the knock out phase.

For Glamorgan, Colin Ingram has been outstanding with the bat scoring 406 runs in his 9 innings, but five others have scored over 150 runs at a strike rate of around 150. In the bowling department, Timm van der Gugten is leading wicket taker with 18 wickets but Wagg, Hogan and Salter have all performed steadily.

It should be noted that the game is preceded by a Women’s Kia Super League match between the Southern Vipers and Surrey Stars, which starts at 2.30pm.

The weather forecast, at least according to the BBC, looks good, so the game will hopefully take place. Can Sussex carry on when they left off at The Oval and give Glamorgan a tough time as they did in the County Championship a few weeks ago? We will see.

Danny Briggs (capt.)
Jofra Archer
Will Beer
Tom Bruce
Michael Burgess (wk.)
Laurie Evans
Harry Finch
Chris Jordan
Rashid Khan
Tymal Mills
Delray Rawlins
Ollie Robinson
Phil Salt
David Wiese

joe,

Oh dear, this does not augur well when the match is a must-win. Wright's back, I fear, may
become a constant niggle for him.

I would definitely open with Salt and Rawlins, we need big hitters in the power play. I’d rather we were 70/3 after 6 than 30/0.

Wiese offers more with the bat than Mills and with losing Wright that may be crucial.

We’ve lost the toss and have been put in to bat first.

Advantage Glamorgan.

Finch and Mills play.

Advantage Glamorgan.

Decent score of 186 after a slightly bumpy start. All credit to Evans and Burgess for pushing it on, not forgetting Jofra’s 22 off 6 balls. Can the bowlers now do the business?

Wow, what an unbelievable performance, I wasn't expecting that at 50-0!

Rashid Khan is different class and delighted for Mills with the hat trick at the end. Jofra clocked at 94.8mph and a couple of stunning catches from Evans and Finch to boot!