Sussex VI beat Lancashire to reach another final

Sussex took on Lancashire in the semi-final of the BBS Heinrich Swanepoel Memorial Cup at Blackstone on Saturday. The 30 over cup is the longest running disability sport competition having been contested since 1974.

Stand-in skipper Ian “Tiny” Morris won the toss and put Lancashire in to bat on a hard, dry surface.

The opening bowlers took advantage of the conditions with the opening 7 overs yielding only 23 runs.

As Lancashire tried to push the scoring rate on, Si Ledwith took a smart running catch off the bowling of Dave Daniels to dismiss their dangerous opening bat Taseen Saber for 32.

Marcus Kipling then came on to bowl his six-over quota, returning excellent figures of 4-13 to remove the middle order.

Lancashire closed on 125-8, which looked 60 runs shy of a par score for the wicket.

Sussex took the gamble of sending in two totally blind batters, who score double runs, to open their innings.

However, with both batters dismissed without scoring, Sussex found themselves in a tight spot.

Si Ledwith led the recovery with 54 off just 40 balls. Ledwith would have seen the VI Sharks home were it not for a controversial Mankad dismissal with just 3 runs required.

Sussex eventually chased down the winning total with 13 overs to spare to claim their spot in the cup final.

The VI Sharks now have a week off before hosting Northants at Blackstone on 6th August in the league. Northants are the only side to beat the Sharks this year and both teams will be hungry for a win to keep their chances of the treble alive.

Result

Lancashire 125-8

Sussex 126-3

Sussex won by 7 wickets