Gloucestershire eased to a comfortable five-wicket victory over Sussex at Hove, dashing the latter's hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the T20 Blast.
T20 BLAST, 2023
T20 Blast: Clinical Gloucestershire dash Sussex's knockout hopes
Gloucestershire chased down the target with 19 balls to spare. © Getty
Sussex endured a disappointing batting performance, posting a total of 160 for 9 on what was a sluggish pitch but the total looked short of par right away. They were, in fact, reeling at 52/4 in the seventh over, with Ajeet Dale making the key breakthroughs of Oliver Carter and skipper Ravi Bopara. Soon after, Shadab Khan handed a return catch to Tom Smith to further dent Sussex's hopes.
Despite a recovery thanks to a partnership between Michael Burgess and Harrison Ward, Sussex failed to maintain momentum. Michael Burgess, who blasted 64* off 37 and reached his second T20 fifty, added 64 runs from 47 balls with Ward but Sussex would go on to lose four wickets for only ten runs. Graeme van Buuren was the standout performer, delivering an outstanding spell of 4-0-13-2.
Ben Charlesworth played a crucial role for Gloucestershire in the chase, top-scoring with 34 runs. Their takedown of a modest target of 161, though, was set up by a brilliant start from Grant Roelofsen, who smashed 30 runs off just 14 deliveries. Nathan McAndrew's twin strikes of Roelofsen and Ben Wells in the space of three balls could have been a game-changer but James Bracey and Jack Taylor calmly guided Gloucestershire towards victory with 3.1 overs to spare.
Brief Scores: Sussex 160/9 (Burgess 64*; Buuren 2-13) lost to Gloucestershire 165/5 in 16.5 overs (Charlesworth 34, Roelofsen 30; McAndrew 2-31) by 5 wickets
© Cricbuzz
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