VI Sussex Sharks lift T20 gold

The sun came down on the Blind Cricket England and Wales (BCEW) season at Wolverhampton CCC with the finals for the David Townley Memorial T20 Cup. Sussex were joined by holders Somerset, Lancashire and Surrey making their first appearance at Finals Day.

The semi-final draw was not kind to Sussex as they drew current champions, Somerset. The VI Sharks lost the toss and were inserted to bat on a very damp looking outfield. 

After losing opener Mark Oliphant to just the second ball, it was down to Mark Bond (52) and Si Ledwith (36) to steady the ship and set the platform. Despite the sluggish outfield Sussex pushed on to 169/3  off their 20 overs.

The sun then came out as Somerset benefitted from the drier outfield with Sussex struggling to take early wickets. The game turned on the extraordinary dismissal of current England Captain, Ed Hossel who scored 75 off 50 balls.

He tried an audacious reverse sweep and pulled the ball on to his stumps departing with Somerset on 126-1, comfortably ahead of the rate. The VI Sharks then put the squeeze on and captain, Dan Field  (2-27) held his nerve in the final over to see Sussex squeak home by just 6 runs.

The other semi final proved to be a very one-sided affair with Lancashire posting an enormous 243-2. Surrey managed 137-7 in reply to set up a Sussex versus Lancashire final.

The VI Sharks bowling attack started very well with Lancashire taking 11 balls to register their first run. The batting team found the going very tough with Joe Harrison (2-5) , Phil Daniels (1-3) and Marcus Kipling (0-9) restricting Lancashire to just 27 in the first 10 overs.

As Lancashire tried to up the run rate Dan Field (3-12) and three run outs saw Lancashire close their innings in the 19th over on 71 all out. The chase was dealt with effectively with Sussex always ahead of the rate, Si Ledwith  (23*) guiding the VI Sharks home with 12.1  overs to spare.

This was very satisfying end to a frustrating season for the VI Sharks. The season has been beset with rail disruption and poor weather, which effectively ended their hopes of retaining their league title as games they would have expected to win were recorded as draws. 

2023 was the VI Sharks 20th season and this is the 11th season in a  row they have lifted one of the major trophies and having gone the entire season unbeaten, it was nice to end it with some silverware in the cabinet.

The season isn’t over as the showpiece knockout cup final has been postponed until next year, where Sussex will face newly promoted Northants. The VI Sharks would like to thank the Sussex Cricket Foundation and Webtrends Optimize for their ongoing support.

To find out more about Disability Cricket in Sussex, please visit: https://sussexcricket.co.uk/disability-cricket