Fantastic McCoy fifer gives Sharks win at Somerset

Obed McCoy’s five wicket haul on debut helped Sussex to an impressive 47-run success at Taunton.

McCoy only joined up with the team yesterday having played in the IPL final this past Sunday, but he took no time to settle at all as he and Tymal Mills prevented Somerset from getting close to the 217-run target set by the visitors.

Josh Philippe led the way for Sussex with 70 off 43 deliveries, Ravi Bopara making 48 and Harrison Ward blitzing 23 off five balls at the end.

It didn’t look like proving enough as Rossouw took his tally of runs in four Blast innings for Somerset to 248, at an average of 82.6, with his most devastating display to date.

The South African left-hander blasted 5 sixes and 8 fours. But he lacked any meaningful support and a dramatic late collapse to 169 all out saw Obed McCoy finish with five for 33 and Tymal Mills four for 32 to help Sussex claim their second win in four games.

Luke Wright began by hitting his first two balls from Josh Davey for four and six, but was dismissed in the same over, caught at cover.

Philippe and Tom Alsop then produced a battery of sixes to take the total to 62 by the end of the six-over powerplay before Alsop fell for 30 to the left-arm spin of Roelof van der Merwe.

Bopara used his experience to score quickly without taking risks as he and the increasingly effective Philippe added 85 in 9.3 overs.

The Aussie went to a 35-ball fifty in the 14th over and after launching Ben Green for successive sixes, Philippe chanced his arm once again but was caught backward point.

Delray Rawlins and George Garton cleared the ropes to boost the Sharks’ total, but both fell and the visitors were still eight short of 200 when de Lange began the final over.

Having dismissed McCoy lbw with a full toss, the powerful seamer proved no match for 22-year-old Ward, who survived a run out opportunity to wicketkeeper Tom Banton taking a scampered bye before transforming the Sussex total.

He smashed de Lange for 6,6,4,6 off the final four balls of the innings to give the Sharks a spring in their step when they came back out to field.

Will Smeed fell cheaply to McCoy, skying a catch to deep square in the second over after Garton had conceded only a single from the first.

But Rossouw was soon into his stride, taking ten off his first three balls from McCoy and following up with two sixes and a four off the fourth over, sent down by Mills.

But Rossouw’s assault was relentless as he charged to a brilliant 17-ball half-century. He was eventually dismissed by Rawlins for 74 and Somerset never recovered.

Bopara conceded only five off the 15th over and a series of increasingly desperate shots saw McCoy and Mills run riot in the closing overs as the last six wickets fell for 17 runs.

Sussex will be delighted to have secured back-to-back wins following defeats in their opening two games but will also be buoyed by the nature of the wins, first coming against the defending champions Kent, and now tonight against Somerset who had won all three of their opening matches in this year’s T20 Blast.