An unbeaten 65 from birthday boy Chris Cooke helped Glamorgan beat Sussex by five wickets in the NatWest T20 Blast tonight.

And, to add to the Sharks’ agony, they lost slow bowler Mike Yardy with a pulled bicep when he slipped and fell towards the end of the home reply.

Sussex looked to be in charge for three-quarters of the contest in Cardiff but were sunk by a furious late onslaught from the home batsmen.

West Indies all-rounder Darren Sammy, who signed for Glamorgan this week, hit the winning runs off the last ball but it was Cooke who ensured a successful chase by finding the boundary 12 times.

Jacques Rudolph put together a half-century for the Welsh county off 44 balls while Matt Prior and Ed Joyce top-scored for Sussex with 39 apiece.

Graham Wagg, Michael Hogan and Jim Allenby claimed two wickets apiece at the SWALEC Stadium as Sharks suffered a second consecutive defeat.

Sussex were 79-1 with ten overs played thanks to experienced batsmen Joyce and Prior but the former was then bowled middle-stump by Allenby for 39.

The Glamorgan captain took his second wicket in five deliveries when removing Prior (39), Murray Goodwin taking the catch.

Then, with Sussex on 134-4, Chris Nash was caught in the covers for nine.

Wagg removed Hamilton-Brown and Yasir Arafat with consecutive balls but Ben Brown gave Sussex late impetus and they set what looked a challenging target given the slow outfield.

Glamorgan got within 140 of their target without loss.

When Allenby was caught behind by Prior off Yardy for 26 it fell to Rudolph to keep the runs ticking over.

The South African helped Glamorgan reach 74-1 just before Goodwin departed.

The run chase took a hit when Luke Wright, at long leg, caught Mark Wallace but Cooke, celebrating his 28th birthday, then joined Rudolph for the onslaught.