Sharks flying high in Blast - now Essex and Glamorgan tests await

A home defeat to Somerset on Friday night was followed by victory over Glamorgan – also at Hove – on Sunday afternoon.

Tynal Mills’ side are second in the table heading into another double header, at home to Essex on Friday night and away to Glamorgan on Saturday night.

Essex are bottom of the table after losing their first four games, while Glamorgan are mid-pack after two wins and two losses, including that one at Hove last weekend. But Essex and Glamorgan face each other this evening at Chelmsford.

Sussex’s unbeaten start to their campaign ended last Friday evening as Somerset ran out winners by seven wickets. The visitors cruised to their target of 167 with seven wickets left and two overs remaining.

Mills took some positives from the loss – including the display of Jack Carson, who took 1-22: “I thought he held himself really, really well, so that was great to see,” Mills said.

“He hasn’t bowled an awful lot in T20 cricket. He had a really good bowl today against two right-handers, set batters.

“The way that that Somerset powerplay went, that game could easily have been done in 13, 14 overs, but we stuck at it really well.”

The Sharks showed no mercy to Glamorgan on Sunday as James Coles’ 75 from 43 balls and Nathan McAndrew’s 5-19 delivered a mammoth 78-run win.

McAndrew said: “It was a great win. It was set up by the batters, to be honest. I don’t think it was a 190-run wicket, to be fair. I felt we were 15 or 20 runs over par with the bat, and that gives you a good feeling as a bowler.

“We felt we had runs to play with and there was also a bit in the wicket. The batters were coming off saying it was a little bit two-paced. We had runs on the board and we were able to exert scoreboard pressure when they came at us hard and bowled them out cheaply.”