Sussex took a point from their opening match in the Royal London One-Day Cup after a rain-hit game at Lord's.

Luke Wright's men were facing a daunting run-chase after Middlesex had made 341-5 with Ryan Higgins blasting 24 runs from Ajmal Shahzad's final over.

Sussex were 26-1 from four overs in their reply - having lost Wright to his first ball - when the rain came and the match was eventually declared a no result with no improvement in the weather.

Paul Stirling’s 71 from 60 balls provided the initial impetus for Middlesex after they had been put in to bat by Wright before John Simpson and James Franklin steadied things following a mini-slide to 146-4 with a century stand.

Stirling hit a six and nine fours and Adam Voges also scored a useful 40, but it was Franklin, in a 117-run partnership with Simpson in 16.4 overs, who began the late assault against Sussex’s bowlers by clubbing five sixes and three fours in his 69 from 60 balls.

Franklin and Simpson, who finished on an unbeaten 82 from 80 balls, built their stand carefully at first as Sussex spinners Will Beer and Danny Briggs regained some sort of mid-innings control for their side in excellent ten-over spells.

But Franklin cut loose when the seamers returned for the last phase of the innings and took a heavy toll of Jofra Archer, David Wiese and Shahzad, who he pulled twice for sixes in the same over in which he was bowled aiming another big hit.

Simpson and Higgins, who flat-batted Wiese over cover and also straight-drove and pulled the suffering Shahzad for sixes in his explosive knock, hit out so strongly in the final overs that their unbroken stand of 78 took a mere 6.3 overs.

Higgins struck three fours off Shahzad as well as those two sixes in the eye-catching 50th over, and four fours in all, while Simpson included eight fours in his expertly-judged innings.

Sussex’s reply began with Chris Nash taking an immediate liking to Steven Finn, with two leg-side fours in an opening over costing ten and then a pulled six and two further fours in Finn’s second over, which went for 14 runs.

In between, however, Tom Helm produced a fine outswinger with his first ball of the innings to have Wright caught at the wicket for a first ball duck.