Starc implodes against Wright ton

Sussex 240 for 6 (Wright 103) beat Yorkshire 238 for 9 by four wickets
Scorecard

A hundred from Luke Wright helped Sussex maintain their unbeaten record in Clydesdale Bank 40 Group C as they eased to a four-wicket win over Yorkshire.

Wright made 103, only the second List A century of his career, as Sussex won their third successive game with 6.1 overs to spare. He was playing at Hove for the first time in over 10 months after missing much of last season after knee surgery and only played his first game of the season for Sussex last Sunday after a stint in the IPL with Pune Warriors and a bout of illness.

Wright, who played the last of his 46 ODIs in Sri Lanka in March 2011, was back to his ebullient best against a toothless Yorkshire attack who never looked like defending a total of 238 after Sussex had thrashed 51 in the first five overs of their reply.

Ed Joyce went early, caught in the covers in the second over, but Chris Nash and Wright blazed away in a stand of 49 off 31 balls before Nash, who had struck eight boundaries in his 31-ball 44, was run out when Mitchell Starc deflected Wright's straight drive onto the stumps.

The out-of-form Murray Goodwin, who has only scored 68 runs in 10 innings this season, went cheaply but Wright maintained the tempo with Joe Gatting in a fourth-wicket stand of 90 in 14.1 overs as the pair matched each other shot for shot.

Gatting struck two sixes off Azeem Rafiq on his way to a run-a-ball 45 but Sussex suffered a brief wobble when he holed out to deep mid-wicket and Matt Machan was taken at short mid-wicket, both off Joe Root's off-spin.

Wright, however, seldom looked in trouble. He reached his hundred with his 10th four and also hit two sixes. The only disappointment was that he did not see Sussex home as, with four runs needed, he was run out by Adam Lyth's direct hit at short mid-wicket having faced 95 balls for his 103.

It was a night to forget for the Yorkshire seamers and in particular Australian Starc, whose first over was hit for 21 and who finished with no wicket for 71 from his eight overs.

Yorkshire surrendered crucial momentum at the end of their innings, losing their last five wickets for 11 runs in 17 balls, and had to settle for 238 for nine when a total in excess of 270 looked possible at one stage.

All of their top-order batsmen got established but could not play the dominating innings fashioned later on by Wright. Root improvised well for 46 off 36 balls, sharing a stand of 65 in nine overs with Anthony McGrath, but when they departed in successive overs the innings went into steep decline.

Chief beneficiary was Amjad Khan with 3 for 51 while Sussex's spinners did a good containing job on a pitch offering turn and bounce with Nash, Will Beer and Monty Panesar all taking wickets.