Vince stars to leave Sussex scrapping for qualification

James Vince hit an unbeaten 85 as Hampshire crushed Sussex by 112 runs at Hove to clinch first place in the South Group of the Friends Life t20. Vince hit six sixes in his 49-ball innings and shared a partnership of 94 with Neil McKenzie (45 not out) as Hampshire piled on 193 for two.

It was the highest T20 score at Hove this year and proved far too much for Sussex, who crashed to 81 all out with Danny Briggs claiming 4 for 17. The hammering means Sussex must now win their final game against Surrey on Friday to stand any chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Hampshire got off to a flying start after winning the toss and electing to bat as Jimmy Adams and Shahid Afridi put on 51 off 35 balls. Adams was the driving force in the partnership, hammering 34 off 26 before being trapped lbw by Naved Arif.

Afridi was subdued in comparison as he hit just three boundaries before holing out to Joe Gatting at long on for 24 off the bowling of Michael Yardy.

The Pakistan star had put on 48 with Vince in 38 balls but Hampshire began to cut loose once he was back in the pavilion. Vince raced to his 50 off 35 balls which included two sixes off the spin of Yardy and another off Ollie Rayner.

He then smashed Chris Nash for successive sixes into the top tier of the Pavilion Stand to pass his previous best of 77 in T20. McKenzie played his part in a thrilling partnership which saw Hampshire score 62 off the last five overs. The South African hit five fours and a six in his unbeaten 45 which came off just 24 balls.

Only Arif avoided severe punishment as he finished with figures of one for 26 while Yardy returned one for 33. Sussex's reply got off to a disastrous start as they lost four wickets in the opening seven overs to virtually end their hopes of victory.

Dimitri Mascarenhas did most of the damage as he removed Matt Prior, Chris Nash and Murray Goodwin to claim figures of three for 20. Sussex continued to lose wickets at regular intervals with Lou Vincent being bowled by Imran Tahir's flipper and Yardy holing out on the boundary off Briggs.

Arif was run out in as Sussex's innings fell apart and at one stage it looked like they might not surpass heir previous lowest total in T20 of 67, which was also against Hampshire at Hove four years ago.

Ollie Rayner top scored with 15 to ensure they avoided that record but he became Briggs' fourth victim in the 18th over when he was lbw.