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Matt Short’s masterclass and Adam Hose’s clutch hitting at the death lifted Adelaide Strikers to a thrilling six-wicket win over the Sydney Thunder at Adelaide Oval.After Cameron Bancroft (74) anchored the Thunder’s 200 for 7 on Tuesday night, Short (82) led the reply superbly in his first match as permanent captain before Hose raised victory with two deliveries remaining with a towering six.Short, who pounded six sixes in his 41-ball knock, and unrelated namesake D’Arcy Short (66) put on 139 for the first wicket and had the hosts in control before the skipper’s departure saw the scoring rate slow.Chris Lynn was uncharacteristically subdued as the asking rate escalated to 35 required from the last three overs.Strikers took the power surge and lost Lynn, bowled by a Zaman Khan yorker, before Jake Weatherald was run out in amateurish fashion, beaten by Zaman’s direct hit while dawdling to the non-striker’s end.Matt Short played a blistering innings to help set up the chase•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

But Hose (28 not out off nine balls) kept his cool, striking three boundaries off Nathan McAndrew in the 19th over before going 4-2-6 off Zaman in the 20th immediately after Weatherald’s embarrassment.Earlier, Bancroft continued to press his claims for higher honours, translating his rich red-ball form to the shortest format and giving Thunder a strong platform.English opener Alex Hales was bowled by Matt Short attempting his fourth successive boundary before Matt Gilkes departed first ball during a frenetic powerplay.No. 3 Ollie Davies fell to a superb catch from Matt Short before Bancroft and Alex Ross (46) combined for an entertaining 82-run stand for the fourth wicket.Daniel Sams appeared to hurt his right hip flexor while tumbling for a run in his brief innings but was able to bowl, seemingly without discomfort.Big Englishman Jamie Overton impressed in his BBL debut, snaring 2 for 29 and taking a wonderful outfield catch to dismiss McAndrew in the 20th over.

Big picture: Underdogs Heat aiming to snap title drought; Sixers striving to regain crown

A year ago, Brisbane Heat succumbed at the death against Perth Scorchers in a pulsating final at the Optus Stadium to fall agonisingly short of ending their decade-long BBL title drought.That painful defeat has lit a fuse under Heat and lifted them to great heights this season. But Heat’s bid for redemption and adding to their lone title from BBL 02 goes on the line against Sydney Sixers in Wednesday’s final at the SCG.Using a similar blueprint to powerhouses Scorchers and Sixers, Heat have built a strong core of local players as they aim to become only the third team in BBL history to win multiple titles.Related

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Heat can also end the Scorchers-Sixers stranglehold, with the two teams having combined to win the last four titles and eight overall. A triumph might well see a power shift, but it won’t be easy with Heat starting as underdogs despite a bounce back against in-form Adelaide Strikers in the Challenger.For further confidence, Heat also knocked Sixers out of last season’s Challenger with a tense victory at the SCG.More recently, however, Heat were thumped by 39 runs in the Qualifier on a two-paced Gold Coast surface similar to the SCG, where Sixers’ brilliant bowling attack continually defend modest totals.Sixers will enter with supreme confidence having peaked at the right time with four straight victories. For much of the season Sixers had appeared to be falling short of an all important top two finish with several of their matches heavily impacted by rain, including both games against Heat earlier in the month.Mustering their experience and trademark resiliency, Sixers turned it around capped by superb wins over Scorchers in Perth then Heat to reach a seventh BBL final.On the cusp of a fourth title and first since 2021, Sixers are closing in on regaining their BBL crown.

Form guide

Sydney Sixers WWWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Brisbane HeatWLLWWJosh Brown made history in the Challenger•Getty Images

In the spotlight: Josh Brown and Steve O’Keefe

It just has to be opener Josh Brown after his astonishing 140 off 57 balls against Strikers as he produced the third highest score in BBL history. Heat’s revamped batting – following the exit of internationals Colin Munro and Sam Billings – had struggled in losses to Scorchers and Sixers, but Brown stepped up with a remarkable display of power-hitting to smash a record 12 sixes. But he has had to deal with a lot of attention in the aftermath and is also battling a sore hip after pushing his body to the limits.Brown may also have to contend at some stage with retiring left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe, who has enjoyed an outstanding final season. Only teammate Todd Murphy has a better economy than his 6.25 for those who bowled more than 15 overs this season. O’Keefe is particularly masterful on an SCG surface where he utilises the favourable conditions to his advantage and has proven almost impossible to counterattack. He took 3 for 13 against Sydney Thunder in his last appearance on the ground and if he can produce something similar then O’Keefe will likely end his career with a fairytale finish.

Team news: Sixers unchanged, Swepson set to be recalled

Given their strong form and dominance in the Qualifier, Sixers are set to go in unchanged meaning there won’t be room for veteran seamer Jackson Bird.But Heat have a selection headache after legspinner Mitchell Swepson was left out against Strikers with opener Charlie Wakim getting the nod for his season debut. Swepson, however, is almost certain to be recalled given the spin-friendly SCG conditions with Wakim set to make way. It will force a reshuffle to the batting order with Jimmy Peirson or Max Bryant likely to be elevated.Sydney Sixers (probable XI): 1 Jack Edwards, 2 Daniel Hughes, 3 Josh Philippe (wk), 4 Moises Henriques (capt), 5 Jordan Silk, 6 Joel Davies, 7 Hayden Kerr, 8 Sean Abbott, 9 Ben Dwarshuis, 10 Todd Murphy, 11 Steve O’KeefeBrisbane Heat (probable XI): 1 Jimmy Peirson (wk), 2 Josh Brown, 3 Nathan McSweeney (capt), 4 Matt Renshaw, 5 Max Bryant, 6 Paul Walter, 7 Michael Neser, 8 Xavier Bartlett, 9 Spencer Johnson, 10 Mitchell Swepson, 11 Matthew KuhnemannSteve O’Keefe is two wickets away from picking up 100 in the BBL•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

Pitch and conditions

There is always anxiety over Sydney’s weather, but there is no threat of rain on Wednesday. Sunny conditions are forecast during the day and it is expected to still be warm and humid when the match starts at night.The SCG surface is expected to again be slow and low to bring spinners into the game with scrappy batting often needed on the ground. Totals of around 150-160 have continually been successfully defended by Sixers in a blueprint they will likely want to replicate if they win the bat flip.

Stats and trivia

• Sixers enjoy a 13-6 overall record against Heat. But Heat have won two of the last three at the SCG with their only defeat being a two-wicket loss in late 2021.
• O’Keefe is two away from claiming 100 BBL wickets. Only 10 bowlers have reached the milestone.
• Moises Henriques need 39 runs to overtake Glenn Maxwell and lift into fifth spot in the BBL’s most runs list.
  

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The Ekana Stadium crowd in Lucknow was served the perfect buffet on Friday night: spectacular MS Dhoni fireworks that powered Chennai Super Kings to a competitive 176 for 6 and then the home team Lucknow Super Giants chasing it down with a classy 82 off 53 from captain KL Rahul.LSG’s chase was set up by a dominant century opening stand – the first for them this season – between Rahul and Quinton de Kock, which didn’t allow any CSK bowler to settle in. They collected boundaries regularly to score 54 in the powerplay, they didn’t let CSK fight back in the middle overs (which they have done often this IPL), they didn’t let the asking rate touch ten, and by the time de Kock fell for 54 in the 15th over, they needed a comfortable 43 from 30 balls.

Rahul and Gaikwad fined for slow over rate

LSG captain KL Rahul and CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad were fined INR 12 lac each for maintaining a slow over rate during the match. It was the first offence of IPL 2024 for each team.

Rahul also fell before the close, to a stunning catch by Ravindra Jadeja at backward point, but that didn’t stop LSG from romping home with eight wickets in hand and an over to spare.

Rahul and de Kock set things up

The LSG batters have copped criticism this season for either not scoring quickly at the start, or for throwing their wickets away, or for leaving too much to do for Nicholas Pooran. On Friday, Rahul and de Kock didn’t do any of those things, putting up a century stand in just 10.5 overs to set up the chase.Quinton de Kock scored 54 off 43 balls in a 134-run stand with KL Rahul•AFP/Getty Images

Rahul led the partnership with strokes dripping with class. He middled his pulls against the short balls, drove confidently down the ground, played the pick-up shots like he usually does, and even used the pace of Matheesha Pathirana to upper cut him for six.Rahul often plays such strokes in T20s but it was the frequency with which he was hitting them on the night that was different. After collecting 12 off Deepak Chahar’s second over – the third of the innings – that included a six over midwicket, he drilled Mustafizur Rahman back in the next over. And when de Kock and Rahul combined for 6, 4 and 6 across the fifth and sixth overs to take them to 54 in the powerplay, it was fairly evident that LSG were in pole position to get home comfortably.LSG were helped further when de Kock miscued Jadeja in the ninth over but Pathirana shelled the chance at short third. De Kock made CSK pay in Jadeja’s next over with a boundary on the leg side before Rahul inflicted more pain with back-to-back fours, which took him past fifty.With 74 to get from 54, the two slowed down briefly before de Kock also got to his fifty. He fell for 54, caught by Dhoni trying to ramp a Mustafizur Rahman slower ball.But Pooran came out with the aim of hitting boundaries and finished the game off with his third four that sealed the chase with six balls to spare.

Jadeja walks out at No. 4

CSK are known to pull rabbits out of the hat from time to time, and the latest was to send out Jadeja at No. 4.Moeen Ali and Ravindra Jadeja put on a vital 51 off 33 for CSK•BCCI

Soon after they were put in, they had lost Rachin Ravindra for a golden duck and, three overs later, Ruturaj Gaikwad edged a Yash Thakur outswinger behind.Losing two wickets in the powerplay, perhaps, made CSK save Shivam Dube for later and send out Jadeja, and he played a key hand in CSK getting to a competitive score.Ajinkya Rahane, meanwhile, made CSK tick along nicely with a regular flow of boundaries, his crisp timing in full display. The pick of those was a six over midwicket off Matt Henry and an exquisite drive off Thakur for four.

CSK slip in the middle overs

Rahul brought on spin from both ends as soon as the field spread out and it worked when Krunal Pandya hit Rahane’s leg stump to send him back for 36 off 24.Dube walked out at No. 5, but it was Jadeja who collected boundaries in consecutive overs by hitting with the spin of Krunal and Ravi Bishnoi.Jadeja, however, did not get the company of CSK’s big hitters for long. Dube first miscued a Marcus Stoinis short ball, bowled at 125.4kph, to be taken by Rahul, and Sameer Rizvi, soon after, danced down the pitch to Krunal but couldn’t get close to the ball and was stumped. CSK were suddenly 93 for 5 after 13 overs.The LSG bowlers stifled Moeen Ali and Jadeja – they went 34 balls without a boundary. Jadeja broke the drought in the 16th over, and reached his fifty in the 17th with a six off Mohsin Khan that Deepak Hooda should have taken but only managed to tip over.MS Dhoni slammed 28 off nine at the death•BCCI

The Moeen and Dhoni show

Moeen set things up for Dhoni with three sixes in a row off Bishnoi in the 18th over, and Dhoni came out to a rapturous reception when Moeen holed out attempting a fourth six off the same bowler.After a single off his first ball, Dhoni was facing two inexperienced bowlers in Mohsin and Thakur. He first bashed Mohsin to the extra-cover boundary for a one-bounce four, and followed it with the most un-Dhoniesque six you’ll see: walking across because Mohsin had been bowling them wide outside off and lapping him over the keeper’s head. It was a 14-run over that included three wides.The fans – almost entirely yellow – were having the time of their lives. And when Dhoni got the strike in the last over, he clobbered a six over cow corner. Thakur attempted wide yorkers that resulted in two more fours off the last three balls and Dhoni finished on 28 off just nine balls that helped CSK smash 63 in last four overs. It was fun but not nearly enough.

Melbourne Renegades have hired Brisbane Heat BBL title-winning coach Wade Seccombe as their new high performance manager while former Australia fast bowler Clint McKay will take over as Melbourne Stars’ equivalent with the two clubs creating the new roles in an attempt to improve their on-field performance.Seccombe coached Heat to their second BBL title earlier this year, having led them to the BBL final the season before, but lost his job as Heat and Queensland coach after a review by Queensland Cricket into the poor performance of the men’s Sheffield Shield team.Related

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Cricket Victoria had advertised for the two newly created high performance roles that are aligned to each of the BBL teams following several years of underperformance before Seccombe departed from Queensland. Previously, the high performance elements of the two Melbourne BBL clubs including list management, coaching and high performance structures had been handled by the club’s two general managers Blair Crouch (Stars) and James Rosengarten (Renegades) in addition to overseeing the entire commercial operation of their respective clubs.Seccombe will move from Brisbane to Melbourne to take up the full-time role with Renegades later this month.McKay moves from the backroom staff at Stars, where he was the bowling coach, to his new role having previously been involved in Stars’ overseas draft and list strategy. McKay has also been regularly seconded into Australia’s coaching set-up in the past two years as a stand-in white-ball bowling coach when incumbent Daniel Vettori has been rested or promoted as a stand-in head coach.Former Australia fast bowler Clint McKay is Stars new high performance manager•BCCI

The two appointments will bring greater alignment between the two BBL clubs and Victoria’s high performance program that is run by Graham Manou.”It is really pleasing to be able to have two people of Clint and Wade’s calibre joining our cricket performance program at Cricket Victoria and working closely with both our Big Bash clubs,” Manou said.”They will play a vital role in the talent management and identification process with a specific focus on T20 skills and potential. They will also be an active part of our existing elite and development programs, putting a renewed emphasis on T20 cricket within our programs.”Previously, the BBL clubs have made list management decisions independent of Victoria’s program. That is likely to change with the two appointments after Nic Maddinson was dropped off Renegades list and then decided to also leave Victoria’s state program to head home to New South Wales. The recruitment of Josh Brown to Renegades and Victoria is an example of how the programs are likely to work together in the future.Seccombe’s first job will be to oversee the recruitment of a new head coach at Renegades after David Saker was sacked with a year to run on his contract. Former Australia players Shane Watson and Cameron White have both been publicly linked to the role without beginning a formal process.

Bangladesh had had an excellent batting powerplay, but Chamari Athapaththu and Inoka Ranaweera slowed them down, and helped force the wickets that saw Bangladesh slump to 126 for 8, on a straightforward Newland surface.

Sanjeewani fined 15% of her match fee

Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batter, Anushka Sanjeewani, was docked 15% of her match fee for breaching Article 2.5 of the ICC Code of Conduct during Sri Lanka’s encounter against Bangladesh.

The incident occurred in the 10th over of the Bangladesh innings, when she ran aggressively towards Sobhana Mostary after her dismissal and clenched her fists in celebration.

Sanjeewani admitted to the offence and accepted the sanction and there was no need for a formal hearing. In addition to the fine, she was also handed one demerit point, her first such offence is a 24-month period.

Although there was an early wobble, Sri Lanka’s batters orchestrated a methodical chase. Harshitha Samarawickrama struck 69 not out off 50 balls to complete Sri Lanka’s second successive victory in this tournament.Earlier, right-arm-seamer Marufa Akter had threatened to demolish Sri Lanka, as she dismissed three batters in her first two overs of the game, all inside the powerplay. She was the only bowler to take a wicket. None of Bangladesh’s batters, however, reached 30.Samarawickrama’s magicIn the powerplay, she faced only 13 balls, but her effect on this match soon became clear. Where Athapaththu took it upon herself to raise the run rate, Samarawickrama’s job was to man watch the wickets column.She did just that. At the end of the powerplay, she was 8 off 9 balls. By the halfway stage she was 22 off 22.Finding her rhythm was what Samarawickrama did, for a while. Until in the second half of the innings, she began to find the boundary. Her most profitable stretch came in the 16th over, when she crashed two sixes and a four in the space of four deliveries. That burst put her innings into high gear, and she never climbed down, whittling away at Sri Lanka’s required rate, as Nilakshi de Silva kept her company.The two put on a partnership worth 124 – de Silva making 41 of those runs. She had made a serious contribution too.Marufa’s burstIf there’s any Bangladesh player who should feel aggrieved at a comfortable Sri Lanka win, it’s Marufa. After her first two overs, Bangladesh may in fact have had huge hopes of defending their modest total. She moved two balls away from Sri Lanka’s star batter Athapaththu, before bringing one back in at the left-hander and having her caught at mid-on – a classic dismissal.Next over, she took two Sri Lanka wickets in two balls, and helped push the battle towards her side. In the end, she finished with 3 for 23 from her four overs.Sri Lanka’s spinners leash the oppositionBy this stage, it should be clear to opponents that some pitches are merely playing to type. But perhaps this was just good bowling.Bangladesh got to 48 for 2 after six overs, and as such, could have been primed to get past 150. Instead the Sri Lanka spinners began to choke them.Athapaththu was chief among the chokers, firing in accurate darts, as Ranaweera and Oshadi Ranasinghe tempted them into big shots. In the end, Athapatthu finished with 2 for 19 from her four overs. Which would have been the best figures, if not for Ranasinghe’s 3 for 23.

Karachi Kings’ see-saw ride in this season’s PSL continued, as the pattern of tight finishes and rather one-sided wins alternated for the fourth match in a row. The latest addition in the list was when they thumped Multan Sultans by 66 runs on Sunday, just days after falling short by three runs against the same team.Kings had made three changes against table-toppers Sultans, as Tayyab Tahir, who came in for Haider Ali, scored an impressive half-century on PSL debut to help Kings to 167. Tabraiz Shamsi, replacing Imran Tahir in the side, then claimed three crucial middle-order wickets to help skittle Sultans out for a mere 101.Put in to bat James Vince got off to a rapid start for Kings. First over onwards, he took on Akeal Hosein and Anwar Ali – both of whom had come into Sultans’ XI – and had raced to 27 off 11 deliveries, before skying a catch to mid-on off Anwar in the fourth over.But Tayyab ensured that the wicket did not halt their momentum, flicking the first delivery he faced for a boundary through midwicket. He dominated a 109-run partnership with Matthew Wade, scoring quickly and keeping the pressure off the Australian, who struggled his way to 46 from 47 balls.Tayyab attacked the off side and leg side with equal ease, and hit eight fours as he brought up his half-century off 33 deliveries. With his fifty up in the 14th over, he hit Abbas Afridi for his only six in the next, but slowed down after that as Sultans bowled 31 deliveries without conceding a boundary.Tayyab was finally trapped lbw by Ihsanullah in the 17th over, by which time the runs had dried up for Kings. Ihsanullah also castled Wade in the penultimate over of the innings, but Imad’s finishing kick of 14 from six deliveries helped Kings finish strong.Sultans’ chase started with Shan Masood getting off to a rapid start – he finished with 25 from 16 balls – before an inside edge to wicketkeeper Wade off Akif Javed brought an end to his innings. But Masood’s opening partner Mohammad Rizwan, who had scored a dazzling century in the last meeting between the two teams, soldiered on even as Shoaib Malik and Shamsi dismissed Rilee Rossouw and David Miller, respectively.And soon after in the 11th over, Tayyab’s fantastic day continued when he took a superb diving catch at point off Rizwan’s leading edge to give Malik his second wicket. Shamsi then struck in each of his next two overs, castling Khushdil Shah and getting Usama Mir to hole out at long-off to finish with figures of 3 for 18 that earned him the Player-of-the-Match award.Sultans’ innings seemed to head towards a hurried conclusion, as Imad then removed Carlos Brathwaite and Hosein in the 15th over, before Akif Raja also claimed his second wicket when Anwar Ali sliced a catch to deep point.Malik then trapped Afridi lbw to seal victory for Kings, who although they earned two points, sat on the third spot in the points table only due to a better net run rate over both Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi, with all three sides on four points each.

Glamorgan 123 and 499 for 5 (Carlson 187*, Labuschagne 138) lead Sussex 481 (Coles 138, Smith 89, Haines 58) by 141 runsFor the second weekend running, fears about the pre-Ashes fitness of an England fast bowler overshadowed on-field events in the LV= Insurance Championship. Ollie Robinson headed for the dressing room after an hour’s bowling during the morning session at Hove and wasn’t seen again, his absence compounding the pain experienced by his Sussex team-mates as a 288-run stand between Marnus Labuschagne and Kiran Carlson turned the day into an unwelcome endurance test for the hosts.Paul Farbrace, Sussex’s head coach, revealed afterwards that Robinson had been suffering from a sore left ankle, and will be sent for a scan on Monday to determine the extent of the injury. With England’s first Test of the summer against Ireland starting in 12 days’ time, and James Anderson already nursing a “minor groin strain” less than a month out from the Ashes, the news of Robinson’s discomfort will be of concern to Ben Stokes, the Test captain, who had previously stated his desire to have eight fit seamers to take on Australia.”He’s got a sore ankle and he’ll be scanned on Monday to see how bad it is,” Farbrace said. “We knew it was sore yesterday and that’s why we got one spell out of him this morning. Once he was off that was it for the day.”It was precautionary, there was no point in making it worse. We knew that he was sore. It’s walking more than anything, it’s not actually the running part that makes him sore. It’s a joint decision between our medical team and the England medical team, we’ve got a good relationship. It’s the right thing to do, we need to find out and Oliver wants to find out what’s going on with the ankle and why it’s so sore.”Related

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Robinson, who required a cortisone injection in his back before his first appearance of the season, has had his workload carefully managed by the ECB. He has featured in three of Sussex’s six games so far, taking career-best match figures of 14 for 117 against Worcestershire two weeks ago.He began this match with 4 for 29, including the wicket of Labuschagne for 1, as Glamorgan were dismantled in their first innings but on Saturday, after completing an eight-over spell during which he saw Carlson dropped, he walked from the field and did not return. On the Sussex YouTube channel, there remained a poll asking how many wickets Robinson would take in the day, with four options: 2, 3, 4 or 5+.Where there was far greater certainty was in the identity of Glamorgan’s saviours. Carlson, stand-in captain for this match in the absence of the hamstrung David Lloyd, produced a mighty, unbeaten 187 and Labuschagne did Labuschagne things to steer their side away from the jaws of a three-day defeat. At the close, Glamorgan’s lead was 141 with five wickets standing: pushing for a first victory at Hove since 1975 will be a stretch but two more sessions of batting on a pitch that has appeared increasingly moribund would almost certainly secure an unlikely draw.Glamorgan began the day 240 runs in arrears with nine wickets standing, and the loss of two in the space of two balls inside the first half an hour suggested they were facing an uphill task. Perhaps, if James Coles had held a low catch at third slip when Carson was on 3, events would have taken a markedly different course. Glamorgan would have been 136 for 4, Robinson would have had a wicket midway through his spell, and Sussex might have been sufficiently buoyed to keep chipping away and then roll through with the second new ball during the afternoon.Carlson gave a much harder chance when he had made 21, advancing to sting the fingertips of Jack Carson with a lofted drive that flew for four, but was more or less impregnable thereafter as he and Labuschagne spent the afternoon assembling a stand of Brobdingnagian proportions – on the way scrubbing the contributions of Viv Richards and Tony Cottey from the records books, for Glamorgan’s highest fourth-wicket stand against Sussex.After a watchful start, which involved seeing off Robinson, the pair set about transferring the pressure back on to the Sussex attack. Carlson was the more fluent, reaching his fifty with a reverse-sweep from 78 deliveries, and then requiring only 49 more to get to his third century of the summer, secured by a tuck into the leg side for three off Tom Haines. His was the more exuberant celebration, too, the bat whirled like a scimitar before the helmet was removed to reveal a satisfied grin beneath Carlson’s bristling moustache.Labuschagne, quite clearly, was not bothered about being outscored and seemed to have only two things on his mind: salvage the match situation for Glamorgan and face as many balls as possible in his final innings before joining up with Australia for their World Test Championship and Ashes campaign.He was struck a blow on the bottom hand by Ari Karvelas, shortly after clubbing Carson into the Cow Corner hospitality section, but shook it off after a brief visit from the physio, and brought up his own fifty off 121 balls with another swipe for six, this time off Coles. The closest he gave to a chance during an innings that spanned more than five hours was when edging Carson wide of the diving Steven Smith when on 73, as Labuschagne also upped the tempo to bring up his hundred from 185 balls with back-to-back boundaries off Fynn Hudson-Prentice.Almost every noteworthy contribution from Labuschagne was met with increasingly raucous chants of “Oh Glammy, Glammy!” – possibly with an Aussie twang – from a knot of supporters in the Sharks Stand. By the time he missed one that skidded on straight from Coles to be lbw for 138 from 244 balls, the Marnus Fan Club were waving their shirts around their heads as their hero walked back to applause from all four corners of the ground.Expectations for the day had been completely reversed by that stage. Carson struck in his fourth over of the morning, Zain-ul-Hassain’s second tidy innings on debut ending when he dragged his back foot out of the crease attempting to sweep. Sam Northeast came and went like Abe Simpson at the Maison Derrière, trapped by one turning into him, but that was Sussex’s last success for almost 65 footslogging overs as Labuschagne and Carlson turned the screw. Coles’ two wickets in the final session kept Sussex interested – in absolute terms – but Glamorgan will return in the morning looking to complete their great escape.

Hampshire 128 for 5 (Albert 41*, Payne 3-17) beat Gloucestershire 124 (Turner 3-24, Wood 2-13, Neser 2-24) by five wicketsToby Albert anchored Hampshire Hawks to a hard-fought five-wicket Vitality Blast triumph over South Group rivals Gloucestershire beneath the Seat Unique Stadium floodlights at Bristol.The 23-year-old Academy product top-scored with 41 not out from 32 balls and dominated a match-winning stand of 61 for the fifth wicket with James Fuller as the visitors chased down a modest victory target of 125 on a used pitch with 3.1 overs to spare.But they were made to fight hard by Gloucestershire’s front-line seamer David Payne, who took 3 for 17 in four overs to at least make a game of it in front of a crowd of nearly 4,000.Hampshire’s second successive win was founded upon a disciplined performance from their seam bowling unit, John Turner claiming 3 for 24 in 3.2 overs and Chris Wood, Michael Neser and Fuller each weighing in with two wickets apiece as Gloucestershire were bowled out for 124 in 18.2 overs.Cameron Bancroft top-scored with 29, Beau Webster made 28 and Matt Taylor hit a quickfire 27, but the hosts never really recovered from the loss of early wickets and only managed three double-figure partnerships in an innings that failed to achieve lift-off.Buoyant Hampshire head to Taunton and a showdown with title holders Somerset on Sunday, while Gloucestershire attempt to recover from back-to-back defeats when they take on Sussex in Bristol.Put into bat, Gloucestershire slipped to 15 for 2 in a powerplay that yielded 40 for the loss of Miles Hammond and James Bracey. Wood accounted for both, having Hammond held at mid-on and then persuading Bracey to hit high to deep mid-wicket where Benny Howell took a fine catch on the run.Overseas signings Bancroft and Webster staged a recovery of sorts, the Australians adding 45 in five overs. Opening his shoulders, Webster smashed Fuller for a straight six that cleared the stand as Gloucestershire passed 50 in the seventh, but Turner broke the third wicket partnership when Bancroft, having accrued 29 from 23 balls with 4 fours, holed out to long-on.And 60-3 became 60-4 later in the same over, James Vince scoring a startling direct hit from mid-off to run out Ben Charlesworth without scoring. When Jack Taylor missed a straight one and was bowled by Fuller in the eleventh, the home side were in a spot of bother on 65 for 5.Australian seamer Neser piled the pressure onto Gloucestershire, having compatriot Webster held at long-on for a 27-ball 28 and then inducing Marchant de Lange to find long-off and finishing with 2 for 24 from four overs as the hosts further subsided to 74 for 7 by the end of the thirteenth.Gloucestershire needed something special and Matt Taylor did his best to oblige, helping himself to 3 sixes and a four on his way to a T20 career-best score of 27 from 14 balls and staging a restorative alliance of 42 in four overs with van Buuren before falling to Fuller in the seventeenth. Turner then accounted for David Payne and van Buuren, who raised 22 at a run a ball, as Gloucestershire were dismissed with 10 deliveries unused.Gloucestershire’s best hope of achieving an unlikely turnaround in fortunes, veteran left arm seamer Payne removed the openers inside his first two overs, bowling Ben McDermott and having Vince caught at the wicket to sow uncertainty in Hampshire ranks. His next over saw him pin Nick Gubbins lbw for 14 as the visitors lurched to 31 for 3.Joe Weatherley did a good job of calming any nerves in the Hampshire camp, scoring 24 in 25 balls and dominating a stand of 32 in 4.4 overs with Albert, only to then shuffle across his crease and fall lbw to de Lange with the score on 63. But the visitors were still well-placed when reaching halfway with only 57 more runs needed.Albert now took centre stage, finding the gaps, running hard between the wickets and punishing the poor ball when it came along to keep Hampshire on track. Former Gloucestershire man Fuller provided solid support at the other end and, once these two emerged intact from Payne’s final over, with 31 required from 42 balls, Hampshire’s success was more or less assured.In cruise control by the end, Albert had mustered six boundaries by the time Fuller was bowled by Ajeet Singh Dale, having made 27 from 23 balls. Howell then hit the winning boundary as the Hawks won with plenty to spare.