Graham Gooch is convinced Twenty20 cricket is here to stay.

Mushtaq Ahmed suggested it could help make the sport as popular as football.

Whatever your viewpoint, there is no doubt the bright new competition is giving the Hove crowds plenty to enjoy.

True, Mushtaq, king of spin though he may be, has over-pitched a bit this time, admirable though his sentiments were.

There can surely though be no doubts Twenty20 will win over the sporting public of Sussex all the time they are treated to entertainment like this.

Nine runs per over, superb individual displays and a thrilling finish? It doesn't get much better, especially with a home win thrown in.

Not that Gooch, the former England run-machine now coaching Essex, let defeat cloud his judgement of an upbeat occasion.

He said: "This sort of cricket is good fun and you will see more of it in the future.

"It's here to stay and once players get used to the format they will keep improving.

"We left ourselves too much to do at the end. Twelve an over is too much but it was a good game and could have gone either way."

Essex, inspired by man-of-the-match Andy Flower, were still in it when Aftab Habib clipped a six and a four off Robin Martin-Jenkins' final two deliveries.

Paul Grayson's four off Jason Lewry left Essex needing 11 from five balls to win by virtue of losing fewer wickets.

Lewry, however, kept his discipline to limit them to singles until the penultimate delivery, when Habib thought he had glanced another four, only for Martin-Jenkins to stretch his 6ft 5ins at short fine leg and pull of a brilliant matchwinning stop.

Flower's cleverly crafted 71 off 54 balls earnt him the man-of-the-match award but was not enough to keep his team in the cup.

The Zimbabwe star and Ravinder Bopara were caught off successive Lewry deliveries by Chris Adams at mid-off after adding 53 in five overs but there were key contributions throughout the home line-up.

Paul Hutchison held a superb ankle-high catch to break an opening stand of 67 in nine overs between Flower and Ronnie Irani.

Murray Goodwin initially paced the Sussex innings after they opted to bat first with a classy 38, following on from 20 in just 11 balls by opener Matt Prior.

And how crucial was Mark Davis' effort in taking 14 off the last over of the Sharks' innings, bowled by Scott Brant?

Martin-Jenkins, however, was the central character.

First the bad. Some expensive bowling and a bizzare mis-field which saw him somehow throw the ball over the rope when getting up after making a sliding pick-up.

Then the good. Not just that late save but a direct hit from long on to run out Darren Robinson and a measured innings of 56.

Those runs came off 36 balls, included five fours, and showed brisk accumulation rather than outright slogging was the way to build a score.

Martin-Jenkins said: "In the first games every county went out and tried to slog.

"They didn't get huge scores and people have started to work out plans.

"If you can get a run a ball the boundaries will come and that's probably the way to go.

"Every run is absolutely vital. Eighty-five per cent of our games in the last couple of years have been won or lost by 15 runs or less."

Gooch, who knows a bit about run-scoring, agrees with the RMJ theory.

He added: "It's not just a swing and hit sort of game, you've got to target the areas you want to hit it.

"Players have to be on the mark with their skills, like bowling yorkers and slower balls, and the batsmen have to work our their options."

Fielding has to be superb too. Martin-Jenkins' own goal apart, it was hard to recall a mis-field of note, with the likes of Habib and Goodwin excelling on the ground.

Less athletic types like Mushtaq and Essex's burly Jon Dakin also pulled off great stops.

But what about the bowlers? With batsmen getting wise, those cheap wickets of the opening games might dry up.

Mushtaq showed how to apply the brakes when his first 15 balls cost ten runs, but four boundaries followed off his next seven deliveries.

No serious damage done though. He said: "It's fun, it's a big challenge.

"People have no fear of getting out so you have to work really hard but you can get a couple of quick wickets.

"Hopefully English counties can take youngsters through watching these games and they can become cricketers rather than footballers."

In fact, nothing short of global warming can help cricket take over from football on these shores.

For once, though, at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, cricket really was king. Those who were there will not forget it.

Sussex (2 pts) beat Essex (0 pts) by seven runs