Debutant Bradley Currie and Oliver Carter shone in a nervy first home win of the season for Sussex as they defeated Hampshire by six runs in a Vitality Blast thriller at Hove, writes Piyush Singh.

Carter’s stunning batting display powered Sussex to 183-6 from their 20 overs after being put into bat.

Crucial wickets upfront from Currie (3-27) and a catch-of-the-season contender in the 19th over helped Sussex restrict Hampshire to 177-9.

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It was a dream debut for Currie, who said: “I knew I was playing about an hour before.

"Surely one game, one game I get my chance and today to be the game against Hampshire and on Sky, what a game to be having as a debut.

“I have been in the squad for a couple of games and you just get so hungry for it on the sidelines. Hopefully what I was doing was getting noticed and hopefully, we can spring a few games together now.”

 

Speaking about the catch, Currie joked: “Now everyone is talking about the catch and not my bowling.”

Harrison Ward 16(8) perished after a flamboyant start for the home team after he was caught plumb lbw in the second over by John Turner. Tom Clark 1(2) followed suit in the next over as he chipped one to James Fuller off the bowling of Chris Wood.

It looked as if a similar story would unfold for the Sharks however Carter had different plans. He was joined by skipper Ravi Bopara, who struggled for timing throughout his stay on the crease before he was bold by Benny Howell for a touch over run a ball 30. In contrast, Carter looked effortless as he smashed the Hampshire bowlers all-round the park.

Sussex’s innings gained impetus as they reached 100-2 in just 8.4 overs. Carter’s magnificent knock of 64 from 33 looked to propel Sussex to a huge score. However, the Sharks lost Bopara and Carter in consecutive overs as they were brought down to 129-4 from 12.1 overs.

Other batters struggled to score at the rate set a pace by Carter. Shadab Khan 6(9) skyed one to long-on and Daniel Ibrahim 18(15) helped a full toss onto the stumps as he looked to scoop Nathan Ellis.

Michael Burgess 26(24)* and George Garton’s 4(1)* boundary off the last ball of the innings helped Sussex set a target of 184. Liam Dawson was economical in his spell conceding 0-21 from his four. A couple of wickets for Turner and Howell and a wicket each for Ellis and Wood.

Sussex struck early with the ball as Currie was sensational with the new ball. He got rid of the dangerous James Vince 8(6) and Toby Albert off consecutive deliveries in the second over.

On dismissing Vince inside the powerplay, he said: “It was the first thing we said in the analysis meeting. But they’ve (also) shown that they are very capable of batting down right down to 10 and 11."

Aristides Karvelas struck off the first delivery of the third over as Ben McDermott 2(4) was given out lbw. Currie struck again in the next over as Ross Whiteley nicked one onto the stumps. Hampshire was reeling at 50-4 at the end of the powerplay.

Dawson and Joe Weatherley looked to steady the innings and added 51 runs before Bopara claimed the wicket of Weatherley 33(28). Fuller 8(10) was caught on the edge of the circle as he looked to cut Khan. Dawson batted well for his innings of 59 from 34 before and looked furious with himself as he was cleaned up by Garton reducing the away team to 126-7.