Susses Sharks reach the final

The Sharks are renowned for their pace attack of Jofra Archer, the quickest bowler in the T20, Tymal Mills and Chris Jordan but it’s been the slower men that have won the day.

Will Beer is not a name you will know, he is scarcely that well known in Sussex, but he came in for leggie Rashid Khan and as much as anyone is responsible for us reaching final day.

It was he that broke the partnership of Paul Stirling and John Simpson of Middlesex and it was he that removed Ben Stokes with a slightly fortuitous LBW.

He is slower than Khan but he decelerated Durham Jets who started with a bold 42 runs by the end of the sixth over. Danny Briggs also bowled his slow deliveries meanly and Durham were soon slipping behind.

Due to some lusty hitting from Stuart  Poynter they made 140 but this was not a defensible total even on a huge pitch where no six was struck.

The Sussex batting hero was 20 year old Bermudan Delray Rawlins who played some gorgeous languid strokes.

Sussex as a county is associated with the Sub Continent – the 3 princes , Ranji, Duleep and the Nawab of Pataudi – and most recently Mushy the Magician’s 100 wickets to achieve our first ever championship in 2002.

However this team with Chris Jordan, Delroy Rawlins and Jefra Archer has a powerful Afro-Caribbean element. We have the right mix of pace and spin and in Laurie Evans have a reliable run accumulator.

There are weaknesses: Archer and David Wiese go for too many runs, but coach Dizzy Gillespie – who won the Australian Bash with Adelaide – has welded together a fighting unit with young braves like Phil Salt and Delroy Rawlins, 21 and 20 respectively.

But what will he do if Rashid Khan is available for finals day? He can hardly drop Beer, or Briggs and if Wiese makes way we lose his batting strength down the order. It’s a problem – omitting or including the best T2o bowler in the world that any coach might want.

I prefer to watch T20 at home.

Bob Tickler’s godson, whom I made a Junior Shark, and his mum were my guests. I explained to young Jamie that the marketing mission driving the Hundred is to find a new young audience like him but he preferred to watch Eastenders with his mum.

There were some errors by the analysts that would not have been made on BBC. Sussex have won 2 games at home not one; Laurie Evans was man of the match in the Royal London final not the T20. We could have done with a statistician and David Lloyd is past his sell-by date. Still rather here than the bitter cold of the North East where summer seems to have drawn its curtain.

So now we are planning final day on September 15th at Edgbaston. Ted Dexter, our captain when we dominated the fledgling Gillette Cup, lives in those parts.