Middlesex skittled by Sussex in One-Day Cup

Nick Gubbins of Middlesex of Kent hits a boundary during the Group B Royal London One-Day Cup match between Middlesex and Kent Spitfires at Radlett Cricket Ground, Radlett, England on 31 July 2015. Photo by Sarah Ansell.


Sussex 222-7 (32 ov): Salt 81; Roland-Jones 3-47, Franklin 2-33
Middlesex 191 (30.4 ov): McCullum 44, Gubbins 37; Jordan 5-28
Sussex (2 pts) beat Middlesex (0 pts) by 31 runs

Middlesex suffered defeat in a rain-shortened Royal London One-Day Cup game at Hove as they crumbled at the hands of teenage batsman Phil Salt and England paceman Chris Jordan.

Inclement weather on the south coast led to the match being shortened to 32 overs per side, with Sussex taking command after a third-wicket stand of 125 between Salt and New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor.

Salt, in only his third professional match, hit 81 from 76 balls, with Taylor scoring a quickfire 54 despite finishing his innings with a runner because of a pulled hamstring.

James Franklin eventually bowled Salt while Paul Stirling removed Taylor, and Toby Roland-Jones took three wickets.

Ben Brown’s entertaining cameo of 31 not out from 13 balls pushed Sussex on to a challenging total, and it proved too much for Middlesex despite both Brendon McCullum and Eoin Morgan getting starts with 44 and 31 respectively.

Jordan struck twice with the new ball to bowl Dawid Malan for a duck and have Stirling caught behind for four and he later returned to pick up three tailend wickets as Sussex wrapped up the match with eight balls remaining.

In between times, left-arm seamer George Garton, 19, had McCullum well held on the deep square-leg boundary while Will Beer bowled Morgan behind his legs and then flummoxed John Simpson with a googly to have the left-hander caught by Jordan at slip.

Garton later had Nick Gubbins (pictured) caught behind for 37 after he and Franklin (28) had offered some defiant blows, but it was to no avail in the end.