Nash's smash carries Sussex to victory

Sussex win by 6 wickets to qualify for quarter finals

Chris Nash produced the most explosive innings of his career to keep Sussex’s Twenty20 Cup dream very much alive.

Nash smashed 26 from the penultimate over from Chris Silverwood to seal victory over Middlesex and earn Sussex a home draw in the quarter-finals.

A nail-biting finish looked on the cards when the Sharks required 24 from the final two overs as they struggled in pursuit of Middlesex’s 127-8.

But then Nash cut loose in spectacular fashion, hitting Silverwood for two sixes and three fours to seal victory with six balls to spare.

A place in the quarter-finals was guaranteed no matter what the result at Lord’s but Nash’s fireworks means Sussex will have home advantage against Warwickshire in the last eight.

Nash said: “I didn’t want it to go to the last over so I just finished it as quick as I could. I’ve never batted at six before so it was different to go in in that kind of situation.

“But when I open my job is to hit boundaries straight from the start and I was seeing it well so it wasn’t a problem.

“I was a bit nervous but I said to Ed (Joyce) before the start of the penultimate over that I was going to take on the short boundary and thankfully it came off.

“Sometimes somebody has just got to decide they are going to take the initiative and I was delighted I could do my bit.”

Sussex went into the game knowing only a win would give them a chance of playing at Hove in the knockout stages.

Middlesex had nothing but pride to play for after losing their opening seven games in the competition and decided to rest four key players, including in-form batsmen Owais Shah and Neil Dexter.

It was no surprise then that they struggled after winning the toss and deciding to bat.

Yasir Arafat and Robin Martin-Jenkins made early breakthroughs to get rid of Billy Godleman and Eoin Morgan and put the hosts on the backfoot immediately.

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