Not everyone welcomed Luke Wright's elevation into the England ranks yesterday.

Jon Lewis was among those questioning the decision. "I don't think he offers anything different," claimed the Gloucestershire captain at the weekend.

Lewis will surely revise his opinion today after Wright took his side's attack apart with a brilliant century at Hove to set up Sussex's first Pro40 League win of the season.

Wright will not play any more Twenty20 cricket until he arrives in South Africa next month but his sensational strokeplay last night fully justified the faith of the selectors, one of whom - Geoff Miller - witnessed it first-hand.

Wright made 125 off just 73 balls including 19 fours and four sixes. Not bad for a player whose previous one-day best was a modest 35.

Sussex still needed 99 off 98 balls when he was fifth out in the 26th over, caught off a skyer at wide mid on by Chris Taylor looking to clear the boundary again.

But Carl Hopkinson and Robin Martin-Jenkins both scored at more than a run a ball and although Gloucestershire kept taking wickets, Saqlain Mushtaq hit two boundaries to see Sussex home with two wickets and nine balls in hand.

Wright will get five more opportunities to bat before the World Cup so it made sense to see if he could replicate his Twenty20 performances in the 40 over format by batting at the top of the order.

He will certainly face more testing attacks in South Africa than the Gladiators but the pitch was flat and Wright was able to hit through the line with impressive hand speed.

Strong on front or back foot, three of his sixes were hit on the leg side but perhaps the best of them was the upper cut which greeted Lewis's arrival into the attack in the fifth over. It was a shot of someone in supreme touch.

Wright had already smashed Carl Greenidge out of the attack by hitting his first two overs for 26 and there was no loss of momentum even though he lost Richard Montgomerie and Murray Goodwin in the first 12 overs. Not one of the bowlers were spared during his onslaught.

Mike Yardy kept him company for the next ten overs but was happy to let his partner hog the strike, contributing 18 to a stand of 73.

Wright reached his hundred with a towering maximum over mid-wicket off Hamish Marshall, who had made a hundred of his own earlier in the day.

It is a matter of debate whether Wright or the crowd were more disappointed when the fun ended and Wright only just recovered from his disappointment in time to acknowledge a standing ovation.

It was a memorable innings at the end of a memorable day for the 22-year-old.

Coach Mark Robinson will have been delighted, too, with his side's positive reaction to Saturday's Twenty20 heartbreak, especially as they were without skipper Chris Adams, who has a sore shoulder, the rested Mushtaq Ahmed and Chris Nash.

Marshall dominated Gloucestershire's innings with a stylish 122 off 105 balls including 16 fours and a six, his highest one-day score.

The curly-headed Kiwi added 153 in 20 overs with Kadeer Ali (76) and Gloucestershire must have been thinking in terms of a total of around 300 when they started the last ten overs on 205-2.

James Kirtley had other ideas though. Like all his team-mates, Kirtley had suffered at the hands of Marshall and Kadeer earlier on but he recovered to take four wickets in three overs at the end as Gloucestershire failed to accelerate as they would have hoped.

Yorkers accounted for Chris Taylor and Alex Gidman and Kirtley took two wickets in his final over. Saqlain Mushtaq offered a measure of control in mid-innings while Rana Naved, despite no-ball problems again, had the satisfaction of removing both Marshall and the Gladiators' key batsman Craig Spearman.

No doubt about it though - this was the Wright sort of night.