Kent lose unbeaten record as Sussex power to nine-wicket win
Half-centuries for Phil Salt and Laurie Evans steer Sussex to victory after Jofra Archer impresses with ball
ECB Reporters Network
02-Aug-2019
Luke Wright swings into the leg side • Getty Images
Sussex 158 for 1 (Evans 65*, Salt 63*) beat Kent 154 for 8 (Bell-Drummond 50, Mills 3-23) by nine wickets
Vitality Blast leaders Kent Spitfires lost their maximum record when they were outplayed by Sussex Sharks at Hove. The Sharks, who themselves are unbeaten in the competition, moved to second place in the South Group table with this emphatic victory by nine wickets with four overs remaining.
Chasing 155, Sussex got off to a fine start when Luke Wright and Phil Salt powerd 38 runs off the first four overs before Wright was bowled by Adam Milne with the last ball of the fifth over for 24 off 18 balls.
Sussex were looking strong at 81 for 1 at the halfway stage, with Salt leading the charge with an unbeaten 40. But in the final stages even Salt's destructive batting was overtaken by Laurie Evans, who hit Fred Klaasen for 16 in three deliveries. Evans finished with 65 not out from 35 deliveries, with six fours and three sixes, while Salt's unbeaten 63 from 44 ball included six fours and two sixes.
Jofra Archer, keen to prove his fitness for the second Ashes Test against Australia at Lord's, returned for the Sharks and so did Chris Jordan, replacing Reece Topley, who was not 100% fit.
Archer, who will also play for Sussex 2nd XI in a three-day match against Gloucestershire at Blackstone, starting on Tuesday, went for 20 in his first two overs. But Jordan broke through for the Sharks in the third over when his offcutter hit the top of the dangerous Zak Crawley's off stump.
Daniel Bell-Drummond responded by hitting Jordan for successive sixes over square-leg as Kent raced to 52 after five overs before some tight bowling by Tymal Mills, who dismissed Ollie Robinson and Heino Kuhn in successive overs, and Rashid Khan, who bowled Bell-Drummond with a googly for 50, gave the Sharks some control in the middle overs.
When Archer returned to bowl the 17th over, with the Spitfires 130 for 5, he conceded just three runs. And in the next over Mills dismissed the dangerous Mohammad Nabi for a 29-ball 43. In his final over, Archer conceded just five runs and had Milne caught in the deep by Phil Salt to finish with figures of 1 for 28 from his four overs.