LONDON, CMC – Highly-rated Bermudian all-rounder Delray Rawlins produced his career-best Twenty20 figures to help Sussex beat Middle-sex by three wickets and stay on course for glory in the Vitality Blast.
The 23-year-old took three for 21 from four overs with his left-arm spin at Hove on Friday, a spell which helped restrict Middlesex to 155 for eight.
Wicketkeeper John Simpson top-scored with 46 off 30 balls while Joe Cracknell chipped in with 37 from 30 balls and Luke Hollman, 35 off 21 deliveries.
Rawlins claimed the scalps of Cracknell and James Harris (5) in the space of three deliveries in his second over – the 10th of the innings – before removing Martin Andersson for four with the final ball of his third to complete an impressive three-wicket haul.
Rawlins made only one with the bat, but Sussex squeezed home with four balls to spare.
Yesterday, Sussex clinched a place in the quarter-finals on October 1 after beating last season’s winners Essex by four wickets with 10 balls to spare at Chelmsford.
Essex lost two wickets in the opening over with no runs on the board, eventually posting a modest 136 for nine. Sussex replied with 137 for six.
Rawlins did not bowl and, batting at number three, was caught by Shane Snater for four, providing 20-year-old Ben Allison, a right-arm medium-fast bowler, with his first wicket at senior level, but Sussex recovered from 59 for five to climb above Kent into second place in their group and secure a last-eight home tie against Lancashire.
