Sussex made it three wins out of four in the NatWest T20 Blast after clinching a nailbiting four-wicket victory over Kent at Hove.

A brilliant performance from the Sussex bowlers restricted Kent to 140 all out with Tymal Mills and Chris Jordan both taking three wickets.

The Sharks found it equally difficult in their innings but Ross Taylor made 62 from 50 balls to set things up and David Wiese hit consecutive fours in the final over to see them home with three balls to spare.

Skipper Luke Wright surprisingly elected to bowl first after winning the toss but it proved an inspired decision as the Sussex bowlers picked up regular wickets.

David Wiese struck in the fifth over when Joe Denly top edged a hook straight back to the bowler and Daniel Bell-Drummond was bowled by Chris Jordan eight balls later.

Northeast was keeping the scoreboard ticking over for Kent but was unable to find anybody to stay with him for very long.

Leg-spinner Will Beer had Tom Latham caught at long-on for 12 and then trapped England batsman Sam Billings lbw for ten.

Northeast brought up his half century from 32 balls with a boundary off Wiese but fell next ball when he skied to Chris Nash at cover attempting to hit over the top.

Kent’s innings crumbled after Northeast’s departure as Jordan and Mills mopped up the final five wickets between them for just nine runs.

Jordan removed Alex Blake and Darren Stevens and Mills produced another exemplary display of death bowling to dismiss Matt Coles, James Tredwell and David Griffiths – all with slower balls.

Sussex’s chase got off to the worst possible start as they lost openers Chris Nash and Luke Wright cheaply.

Ben Brown and Taylor put on 42 for the third wicket but boundaries were hard to come by and at the halfway stage they were only 60-2.

Brown was bowled by David Griffiths for 26 and Harry Finch followed shortly afterwards when he holed out to long-on off Stevens for two.

With five overs to go Sussex were 88-4 – needing 53 from 30 balls – but Taylor set about getting the run-rate down by hitting the first three balls of the 16th over from James Tredwell for 14 runs.

That saw the New Zealand batsman bring up his 50 from 41 balls and he went on to clear the ropes off Mitchell Claydon to put Sussex in the driving seat.

Sussex got the equation down to 12 from the last 12 balls but Claydon removed both Taylor and Jordan in the penultimate over to put the game back in the balance.

The Sharks required eight off the final over but Wiese wrapped things up with three balls to spare with consecutive fours.