Scott Styris blasted a century from just 37 balls to help Sussex reach Finals Day of the Friends Life t20 with a 39-run victory over Gloucestershire at Hove.
The New Zealander plundered a single over from James Fuller for 38 runs, a figure made possible due to no-balls, in the process of compiling the third fastest ton in Twenty20 history.
Matt Prior (60) and Murray Goodwin (55) also contributed half-centuries as the Sharks racked up a fearsome total of 230-4 to effectively kill the contest off before the halfway point.
Gloucestershire did post an admirable 191-8 from their 20 overs, with Dan Housego (47) and Alex Gidman (44) the top scorers for the visitors.
Sussex made an awful start to their innings after being put into bat as openers Chris Nash and Luke Wright both fell for one in the first seven balls.
England wicket-keeper Prior led the recovery by smashing Liam Norwell for two sixes and hitting Ian Saxelby onto the roof of the pavilion as he brought up his 50 off just 28 balls.
The England wicketkeeper put on 98 with Goodwin, who played a good supporting role at the other end before accelerating to his 50 off 38 balls.
Run out
Prior's innings came to a disappointing end when he was run out attempting a quick single after being sent back by Goodwin.
Another mix-up should have resulted in Styris being run out, and Gloucestershire were made to pay dearly for missing the chance as the veteran went into overdrive, hitting a remarkable nine sixes and five fours.
The worst of the punishment reserved for Fuller's third and final over, which began with two no-balls and ended after a string of boundaries.
He reached his 50 off 24 balls and then powered to his 100 off a further 13, where he remained unbeaten at the end of the innings. Only Andrew Symonds (34 balls) and Louis van der Westhuizen (35) have scored quicker hundreds in the format.
Gloucestershire needed a miracle to have any chance of victory, but could only manage a solid start from Housego and Hamish Marshall after Benny Howell had departed early for eight.
As the innings progressed Marshall (42) edged Amjad Khan to Prior, Will Beer bowled Housego and Ian Cockbain before Gidman and Fuller added 62 off 4.1 overs.
But Gidman and Ed Young (one) were run out from successive balls and Fuller, having smashed 26 off 12 balls in a bid for redemption, was bowled by Khan to put the contest well and truly to bed.
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Source: www.skysports.com
Scott Styris celebrates landmark century for Sussex - BBC News
Scott Styris says hitting the joint-third fastest Twenty20 century ranks as a special moment in his career.
The Sussex man hit an unbeaten 100 off just 37 balls in the quarter-final against Gloucestershire on Tuesday.
He told BBC Sussex: "As a player, you want to perform in big games and knock-out games. Any time you get a hundred is always pretty special.
"In a pressure game, under a bit of heat, it's up there. It was just nice to get the boys over the line."
The 37-year-old added: "The coach [Mark Robinson] talked about someone in the group being man of the match because that would mean that we have won. It was nice to be me."
Sussex, who have lost just one game in this year's tournament, have secured a place in the semi-finals for the first time since winning the trophy in 2009.
"These are the reasons you play the game - to win trophies and titles," the New Zealander continued.
"The way we've played in this tournament, we've been thoroughly deserving to go through to the last four.
"We've put ourselves in with a chance to win a trophy and that's what we want to do as a club."
Sussex had made a disastrous start to their innings, being reduced to 3-2 within seven balls after losing openers Luke Wright and Chris Nash.
However 60 runs off 38 balls by England wicketkeeper Matt Prior, coupled with 55 from Murray Goodwin and Styris' heroics helped Sussex to 230-4 - the highest score in this year's tournament.
Sussex cricket manager Mark Robinson was full of praise for Styris and his middle-order batsmen.
"It was brilliant hitting from Scott," he told BBC Sussex.
"He was doing some practise at Arundel on a really soft part of the outfield, launching soft balls.
"We were a bit incredulous then but he's put it into practise. It was some great, clean striking of a cricket ball.
"Matt counter-attacked and Muzz played at quite a good tempo.
"It was only at the end that he slowed down to try and give Scott the strike. They were important innings to get us on the front foot and Scott finished it off at the end."
Sussex are close to completing the paperwork on a deal for Styris to return for finals day in Cardiff at the end of next month.
"I'll come back for finals day," Styris continued.
"I've been away for four months now with the IPL as well, so it'll be nice to get back to New Zealand even though it is the middle of winter.
"As an overseas player it's always a little nervy coming to a new county.
"You want to show everybody they've made a wise choice in signing you."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Sussex and Somerset advance to Twenty20 finals day - sportsmole.co.uk
Source: www.sportsmole.co.uk
Sussex gang jailed for 37 years - The Argus.co.uk
Sussex gang jailed for 37 years
2:53pm Wednesday 25th July 2012 in News
Teenager Keyrillus Mechial was sitting in his car on August 3 when he spotted a group of masked men approaching a cash delivery van outside Higher Bevendean Post Office in Widdicombe Way, Moulsecoomb.
The 17-year-old called the police, and beeped his horn to warn the security guards.
The masked men faltered, and they got back in their silver BMW to drive off.
Keyrillus did not know it at the time, but his actions were to lead to sentences totalling more than 30 years for a team of criminals responsible for a spree of crimes in Sussex.
Gang members stole high-performance cars from driveways by breaking into homes to get the keys.
They fitted them with false plates and used them as getaway cars in robberies in Brighton and Worthing.
At Lewes Crown Court, Judge Michael Lawson said: “These burglaries were carried out by a group of young men who clearly had a plan.
“It carried on over a period of time. These vehicles were disguised. They were used for other criminal purposes, including robberies.”
The gang’s planning was undermined by a trail of forensic evidence left behind after cars were stolen in burglaries.
At least one gang member would get mixed up in a fight involving two members of the extended Dawes family of Brighton.
And Zak Marsden and John Paul Gallagher were arrested trying to escape from the scene of the Moulsecoomb raid.
As defending counsel Rhodri James put it: “It was a bungled, abortive, ineffective robbery.
“At the first suggestion of any third party involvement, the tooting of a horn, it fell apart.”
The fate of several conspirators was sealed by the DNA and fingerprints they left at the scene of their crimes.
A total of eight were sentenced in groups of two or three at Lewes Crown Court because there were too many of them to fit into the Court Four dock.
Some appeared on bail, carrying overnight bags and kissing their friends and family goodbye before entering the dock to learn their fate.
Others were brought up from the cells, exchanging handshakes or embraces with their co-defendants and blowing kisses to their supporters in the public gallery.
The biggest single crime of which any members were accused was a raid on security guards collecting cash from Sainsbury’s at Lyons Farm in Worthing on March 8 last year.
The culprits got away in two cars and opened a cashbox containing £25,000.
The money, though, was stained with security dye. When a dyed banknote was found inside a ticket machine at Worthing railway station on March 12, tests showed it carried Adam Willis’s fingerprint. Paul Addison’s DNA was also found.
At that point the gang was only beginning the crime spree for which they were sentenced.
Gallagher, Willis, Addison, Thomas Hignett and Paul Henaghan were involved in burgling homes and stealing cars between February and July. Some were never found; others were used in crimes.
Addison, Hignett and Henaghan all come from the same Merseyside neighbourhood but had moved to Sussex for different reasons before being drawn into crime.
In the Moulsecoomb raid, the robbers planned to swap getaway cars to make good their escape.
A Mazda was deliberately parked on the other side of bollards.
When they fled in their BMW, pursued by police, they pulled up on one side of the bollards, and ran to get in the Mazda on the other side.
The chase had become desperate, though. One robber was carried for a time on the bonnet of the car.
It was eventually abandoned in Kimberley Road. While Marsden and Gallagher were arrested, Willis and Addison got away. Addison wasn’t caught until December.
Before then, he was involved in a fight alongside Gary Dawes and his step-brother Lee Wright.
Dawes approached a car containing three men outside The Volks nightclub in Madeira Drive and asked if he could buy cocaine.
He made a comment about the size of his muscles and ended up punching one of the men through the car window.
Lee Wright – Dawes’s stepbrother – joined Dawes in the attack, and Addison also took part.
After the sentencings, Judge Lawson commended Mr Mechial and awarded him £250.
Mr Mechial said later: “I was happy to hear the sentences. So many people saw it and did not think anything of it.
“I’m still pleased I did what I did.”
Source: www.theargus.co.uk
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