The 2009 winners, who were runners-up six years ago, were on top from the moment Ollie Robinson spoiled Phil Salt’s return to the south coast by knocking out his middle stump with the first ball of the match. Ollie Robinson returned to the attack in the seventh over to york captain Keaton Jennings for 37, the first of five wickets to fall in four overs as Lancashire slid to 73 for 8 in the 11th over.
It is not hard to imagine a world in which Ollie Robinson spent Wednesday preparing to lead England’s attack against Sri Lanka at The Oval. Instead, with weeks left to run on his central contract, he spearheaded Sussex’s charge into T20 Blast Finals Day at a sold-out Hove – first with the ball, and then in the field with a bullseye run-out of Liam Livingstone.
Pitch and Toss
The surface here will be good for batting and there will be some help for pacers early on. Both sides will prefer chasing at this venue. Sussex skipper Tymal Mills won the toss and chose to field. Keaton Jennings skipper of Lancashire batting first aimed at scoring good in the first innings.
Even with Jos Buttler missing, Lancashire fielded seven internationals to Sussex’s five but were totally outplayed, with Ollie Robinson instrumental. On a fresh, grassy pitch, he struck with the first ball of the match, bowling Phil Salt – returning to his old club – via his pad with an in-ducker, then yorked Keaton Jennings in the seventh over after being swung over mid-on for a pair of sixes.
Ollie Robinson the star as Sussex restricts Lancashire’s to 114 in 20 overs
A 5,000 full house at the 1st Central County Ground had been on their feet when Salt, shaping to play through the leg side, was bowled by Robinson after Lancashire, who had won both times in previous quarter-finals at Hove, had been put in. Brad Currie struck twice in the fourth over, bowling Matty Hurst off his pads before another former Sussex player Luke Wells was held by Archer trying to clear long on.
Jennings and Livingstone briefly steadied things with 24 for the fourth wicket but when the Lancashire captain was beaten by Ollie Robinson’s late inswing in the eighth over, his partner watched a succession of middle-order teammates succumb to poor shot selection. Left-arm spinner James Coles picked up two cheap wickets and Tom Hartley slogged off-spinner Jack Carson to long on.
With only the tail for company Livingstone had little option but to take some risks. He twice lofted Tymal Mills onto the pavilion roof and crunched Archer over the long off boundary before he was run out by Ollie Robinson’s brilliant direct hit after being sent back by Luke Wood trying to steal the strike.
Archer, who had picked up his first wicket when Steven Croft carved his ninth delivery to deep point, returned to finish the innings when he dismissed Saqib Mahmood with 27 deliveries not bowled.
Jennings’ dismissal for 37 sparked a slow-motion collapse of 5 for 14 in four overs, before Livingstone took charge of the game: he twice crunched Mills over square leg, and launched Jofra Archer over long-off. But on 43, after steering to short third, he was sent back by Luke Wood, sprawled at full stretch to make his ground, and was beaten by Ollie Robinson’s direct hit.
When Archer, playing his first game in the Blast since 2021, rearranged Saqib Mahmood’s stumps, Lancashire had been bowled out for just 114, the lowest first-innings score at Hove in eight years. Brad Currie struck twice with his inswingers, while spinners James Coles and Jack Carson kept the brakes on through the middle – but Ollie Robinson was the star.
It needed some bold hitting by Liam Livingstone, who top-scored with 43, to get Lancashire up to 114 as Jofra Archer, playing his first T20 for Sussex since 2021 and his first at Hove for more than five years, picked up two wickets and bowled at good pace.
Quickfire starts in the Powerplay and James Coles all round show grants easy win to Sussex.
A target of 115 was never likely to trouble the Sharks in fast-scoring conditions. The pitch was flat, the outfield quick and Harrison Ward set the platform with six boundaries as Sussex knocked off 63 – more than half their target – in the powerplay. George Dockrell took a juggling one-handed catch to remove Ward and this season’s leading run scorer Daniel Hughes had taken his aggregate to 595 when he was bowled in Livingstone’s first over.
But James Coles and Tom Clark put on 45 unbroken for the third wicket, Clark hitting the winning runs with 5.5 overs to spare to ensure Sussex will be back at Edgbaston for the first time since 2020 on 14 September.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Sussex winning skipper Tymal Mills said :
“We were brilliant all the way through really. We have been pretty poor in T20 cricket in the last couple of years so we made a big effort in the winter to identify where we need to improve, so credit to all the players and the coaching staff, whose work has paid off. We now go to the finals day and I think we’ve got a good chance.”
“Ollie Robinson and Brad Currie were outstanding with the new ball and they set the tone tonight and then Ollie ran out Liam Livingstone which was obviously a huge moment. Livi was striking it really well and Ollie did brilliantly to run him out.
It’s been a few years since Jofra Archer played T20 for us and it was great for the crowd, even if it was only for one game. It certainly made my life easier knowing I had him up my sleeve. Our young batters then got the job done in as really calm way – it’s been a really good night overall.”
Lancashire loosing skipper Keaton Jennings said :
“You don’t win many games with 115 on the board after losing five wickets in the first seven overs. We were excited about the game but we just didn’t perform. We let ourselves down with the bat, not the ball – we just didn’t get a quantity of runs to get us in the contest.
“Every risk we took didn’t go our way. I thought the Sussex lads executed well but in this format the game can go away from you pretty quickly, it’s tough finding the balance of keeping the game forward and not taking risks. We just couldn’t wrestle the game back in our favour. Liam Livingstone showed if you faced 30 or 40 balls that you could access all parts of the ground but the rest of the batting let us down.”
James Cole for his all round performance was given man of the match .