Wright century in vain as Sussex crash in semi-finals again (From The Argus)

Wright century in vain as Sussex crash in semi-finals again

5:47pm Saturday 1st September 2012 in Sport By Steve Hollis

Sussex lost in the semi-finals of the CB40 for the second year in a row after suffering a comprehensive defeat at the hands of Hampshire at Hove.

Luke Wright smashed a brilliant century but received little support as the Sharks collapsed from 195-3 to 199-8 before eventually posting 219-8.

That proved well short of what was required, especially after a blistering initial assualt from Michael Carberry and James Vince.

Carberry blasted 68 from 36 balls and Vince 58 from 43 as the pair put on 129 off 76 deliveries for the opening wicket.

Will Beer gave Sussex a glimmer of hope when he removed both in quick succession but Michael Katich (47) and skipper Jimmy Adams (44) guided Hampshire home with eight wickets and seven overs to spare.

Wright and Chris Nash had got Sussex off to an excellent start after Ed Joyce had won the toss and elected to bat.

They put on 71 for the first wicket off 70 balls before Nash got bogged down and was caught off the bowling off Danny Briggs.

Wright was given a reprieve on 35 when he was dropped at square leg by Bilal Shafayat and went on to punish Hampshire.

He put on 88 with Matt Prior for the second wicket but the England wicketkeeper was strangely subdued.

He was eventually out for 28 and Sussex's innings collapsed from that point.

Wright made 122 - three short of his career-best - but fell in a flurry of wickets when he became one of three victims for Sean Ervine in the same over.

Ed Joyce and Ben Brown both went for ducks while Mike Yardy and Kirk Wernars hit just one and it took a 20 partnership between Steve Magoffin and Will Beer to get them up to 219-8.

That was a disappointing score considering Sussex would have been targeting in excess of 250 at one stage and Hampshire quickly made inroads into it.

Carberry smashed five sixes as he reached his half century off just 25 balls before finally holing out on the boundary off Beer.

Vince hit ten fours until he was beaten through the gate by Beer but by then Hampshire were firmly in the driving seat and a partnership of 92 between Katich and Adams saw the Hawks book their place at Lord's.