Clydesdale Bank 40 Cup: Sussex seal 150-run victory over Worcestershire
Sussex Sharks, who are the defending Champions of the Clydesdale Bank 40 Cup, have enhanced their chances of defending the title by crushing Worcestershire Royals by a 150-run defeat at Hove on Monday. Irish left-hander Ed Joyce scored his maiden century in the one-day league which propelled the defending Champions to a total of 313 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in the allotted quota of 40 overs.
Ed Joyce scored 117 runs from 91 balls and was well supported by Luke Wright who scored a pugnacious 95 from 76 balls. Both players helped the Sharks cross the psychological 300 run mark for Worcestershire to chase. The competitive target set by the batting-line up was well defended by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sussex-c852 bowlers as the Sharks bundled the Royals out for 154 runs.
Joyce was bludgeoning from the start against an out-of-sorts http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Cox-c51633. Nash, in his 45 minutes stay at the crease, smashed four boundaries on his way to score 27 runs off 28 balls.
His dismissal brought Luke Wright to the crease, and in a partnership with opener Ed Joyce, the two batsmen played a flurry of sweetly-timed shots, adding 119 runs to the teams total for the second wicket stand. During the partnership with Wright, Joyce smashed 16 boundaries and a six to pile up the misery for Worcestershire. Joyce constructed his fourth one-day century for the Sharks by slog-sweeping the slow left-arm bowler Shaaiq Choudhry for a gigantic six. Joyce departed in the 29th over after slashing a Cameron delivery straight into the hands of Imran Arif. Though his dismissal was quite disappointing, Ed Joyce played a classy 91-balls innings that contained 16 boundaries to his credit.
Wright, who completed his half century with only three boundaries in his 53-ball fifty, continued the assault after Ed Joyce departed. Wright mauled the Worcestershire attack with six additional boundaries and a straight six to Jack Shantry in the power play overs. Wright’s hopes of a second one-day hundred were shattered by Shantry as he spooned a simple catch to Manuel to long off. After his dismissal, no other batsman could add a reasonable score to the scorecard for the Sharks. However, the 119 runs partnership between Joyce and Wright was enough for the Sussex Sharks to set a competitive 314 run target for the Worcestershire Royals to chase.
The batting line-up for Worcestershire remained unimpressive throughout their innings. Debutant Shaaiq Choudhry, with 39 off 49, was the leading run scorer for the team. The three top order batsmen for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Moeen-Ali-c1990 scored 23 runs off 25 balls. As a result, Worcestershire was all out at 154 with seven overs to spare.
Sussex bowled brilliantly as Montey Panesar took 2 wickets by conceding only 11 runs in his 8 overs spell. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/James-Kirtley-c1648 took 3 wickets for 33 runs in his six overs.
With this defeat, Worcestershire has lost all of its six Group A matches. Sussex on the other hand, after winning the fourth match in the group matches, has placed themselves at the number 3 position in the points table. Somerset, which is unbeaten so far, is leading Group A with 10 points, while http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Surrey-c851 Lions after winning 4 games sits at the second spot with 9 points on the table. Sussex has played its six group matches by winning 4 and losing 2.
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