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| Photo from BBC Sport |
Moeen Ali hit 11 sixes and eight fours in a quickfire knock to see his team qualify for T20 Blast Finals Day as Worcestershire Rapids look to defend their title.
In a chase of 185 at Hove, Riki Wessels made 47 in a second-wicket stand of 177 with Ali, before they won with 14 balls to spare.
Phil Salt had made 72 off 40 balls with Laurie Evans ending the Sussex Sharks innings 43 not out as they posted 184-5.
Ali's outrageous hitting will give his side a chance to be the first to defend the Blast title.
Sussex looked like getting revenge for last year's final with Salt and Luke Wright making an opening partnership of 84 inside nine over, the latter making 28.
But they began to falter, from 108-1 to 133-5 in the middle overs, with Ed Barnard taking 2-21 and Pat Brown testing with his medium pace.
Reece Topley bowled Joe Leach in the third ball of Worcestershire's reply, but that only brought forward Ali's arrival at the crease, giving him more chance to hit it all around the ground.
The allrounder was dropped on five by wicketkeeper Alex Carey, powering his way to 50 off thirty balls, doubling his score with the next 20 balls.
The sold-out Hove crowd were left stunned when Ali's 11th six was clubbed out of the ground in the 18th over to seal a remarkable victory.
It was his second century in this format of the game, but his first in the Blast by surpassing his previous best of 85 not out against Birmingham Bears last month.
Since being left out of England Ashes squad for the second Test, Ali has made three scores of 50 or more in five innings, remarkable when you consider he's taking a break from all forms of cricket.
This match was the first time in nine years that a T20 score of 180 or more had been successfully chased at Hove.
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| Photo from BBC Sport |
Worcestershire Rapids won the toss and decided to field
Worcestershire Rapids won by eight wickets
Sussex Sharks Innings
Batsman: How Out - Bowler / Runs / Balls / SR (4s, 6s)
Salt: c Wessels - b Mitchell / 72 / 40 / 180.00 (5, 5)
Wright: c Barnard - b Mitchell / 28 / 22 / 127.27 (5, 0)
Evans: not out / 43 / 31 / 138.71 (5, 0)
Carey: c Cox - b Barnard / 8 / 4 / 200.00 (0, 1)
Wiese: b Barnard / 0 / 1 / 0.00 (0, 0)
Rawlins: c & b - Ali / 5 / 7 / 71.43 (0, 0)
Jordan: c Cox - b Morris / 2 / 5 / 40.00 (0, 0)
Robinson: not out / 18 / 12 / 150.00 (0, 1)
Extras 4nb 3w 0b 1lb 8
Total (20.0 overs) 184-6
Bowler: Overs / Maidens / Runs / Wickets / Econ
Ali: 4.0 / 0 / 22 / 1 / 5.50
Morris: 4.0 / 0 / 37 / 1 / 9.25
Pennington: 2.0 / 0 / 26 / 0 / 13.00
Brown: 4.0 / 0 / 39 / 0 / 9.75
Barnard: 4.0 / 0 / 21 / 2 / 5.25
Mitchell: 2.0 / 0 / 38 / 2 / 19.00
Fall of Wicket - Batsman
84-1 (8.5 ovs) - Wright
108-2 (10.3 ovs) - Salt
119-3 (11.4 ovs) - Carey
120-4 (11.6 ovs) - Wiese
133-5 (14.5 ovs) - Rawlins
146-6 (16.3 ovs) - Jordan
Worcestershire Rapids Innings
Batsman: How Out - Bowler / Runs / Balls / SR (4s, 6s)
Leach: b Topley / 1 / 2 / 50.00 (0, 0)
Wessels: c Evans - b Robinson / 47 / 46 / 102.17 (4, 0)
Ali: not out / 121 / 60 / 201.67 (8, 11)
Cox: not out / 0 / 0 / 0.00 (0, 0)
Extras 4nb 3w 0b 11lb 18
Total (17.4 overs) 187-2
Bowler: Overs / Maidens / Runs / Wickets / Econ
Topley: 3.0 / 0 / 25 / 1 / 8.33
Robinson: 2.4 / 0 / 24 / 1 / 8.99
Jordan: 3.0 / 0 / 27 / 0 / 9.00
Wiese: 2.0 / 0 / 26 / 0 / 13.00
Beer: 3.0 / 0 / 40 / 0 / 13.33
Briggs: 3.0 / 0 / 26 / 0 / 8.67
Rawlins: 1.0 / 0 / 8 / 0 / 8.00
Fall of Wicket - Batsman
2-1 (0.3 ovs) - Leach
179-2 (17.3 ovs) - Wessels
Draw
Gloucestershire v Derbyshire Falcons,
Notts Outlaws v
=
Essex Eagles v
Notts Outlaws v Worcestershire Rapids,
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v
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