No home comforts in floodlit cup
Essex and Derbyshire claimed away victories in Tuesday night's Twenty20 Floodlit Cup semi-final first legs
Cricinfo staff
23-Aug-2006
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Essex thumped Sussex by seven wickets at Hove with Ravinder Bopara the outstanding performer. Bopara put in a stunning all-round performance, claiming 2 for 30 with the ball, taking a catch and then struck 98 off 52 balls to take his team to the brink of victory. James Foster (38 not out) offered good support in a third-wicket stand of 122 as the visitors chased down their target of 167 with 19 balls to spare. Openers Chris Nash (42) and Matt Prior (37) had earlier been the Sussex mainstays.
Meanwhile, Derbyshire's total of 176 for 8 after winning the toss at Cardiff was more than enough against Glamorgan. Travis Birt got the visitors off to a good start, making 59, and he received excellent support from Chris Taylor (33). Robert Croft (3 for 22) pegged Derby back before Lee Goddard provided a final flourish with a quickfire 22. Ant Botha (3 for 18) was the pick of the Derby bowlers as Glamorgan finished well short in reply.
Sussex and Glamorgan now require wins at Chelmsford and Derby respectively in Thursday's second legs in order to force the ties into a period of extra-time consisting of four overs per side.
Sussex's crowd of 2500 compared favourably with Glamorgan's 1500, but the Welsh county were hampered by persistent rain throughout the day. These attendances were considerably down on their earlier matches in the Twenty20 Cup (the majority of which were 6000 sell-outs at both venues) but Sussex were pleased with the youthful audience they attracted to Hove on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, 3500 tickets have already been pre-sold for Thursday night's return match with Sussex at Chelmsford.