Wright Sweeps Yorkshire Away

Cricket: Sussex continued their progress after another spate of hitting from Luke Wright helped dispatch Darren Gough's Yorkshire.
This splendid Sussex side continue to find new frontiers wherever they travel. They did the double last season and will play in their first Twenty20 finals day after beating Yorkshire in last night's quarter-final.

In a contest that flitted between the sublime and the ridiculous, Sussex were ultimately too streetwise. Their total of 193 for five, inspired by a burst of hitting from the tournament's top scorer Luke Wright, was never under serious threat despite the innings of the match from Yorkshire's Craig White, who hammered 47 from 25 balls. Sussex rampaged to victory as the visitors' last six wickets went down for 13 runs in only 17 balls.

Sussex had been in the ascendancy from the first over, when Chris Nash lashed Tim Bresnan for four fours, and soon Darren Gough was imploring his players to "wake up". Yet only the left-arm spinner David Wainwright offered a hint of control. Gough went for 41 from three overs.

Murray Goodwin anchored the Sussex innings with 57, allowing Wright to assume the role of enforcer. After being dropped first ball he hit a pulsating 45 from 27 balls. Mushtaq Ahmed then sent the crowd into raptures with an unashamedly shambolic 20 not out from seven balls as they pilfered 41 from the last two overs.

Yorkshire's uphill task became even steeper when Rana Naved-ul-Hasan sent Andrew Gale's off stump flying in the first over. White kept them in it before under-edging a sweep in Saqlain Mushtaq's first over but, with Mushtaq also striking in his first over, the walls were closing in.


By Guardian Unlimited © Copyright Guardian Newspapers 2008
Published: 7/19/2007
 
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