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England batsman Zak Crawley continued his good form with a half-century for Kent in the T20 Blast as they beat Sussex Sharks by one run in a nail-biting finish at Hove.
Crawley, who made 267 for England in the third Test against Pakistan last month, struck six fours and two sixes as opener in his 67 off 49 balls.
Kent’s 195-5 looked to be under-par when Phil Salt (33) and Luke Wright’s (40) opening stand of 58 in 4.2 overs got Sussex off to a flying start.
Delray Rawlins (30) and David Wiese (38) continued the momentum, but Wiese fell in the penultimate over leaving Sussex eight to win off six balls.
With two needed off two deliveries, Ravi Bopara nicked Fred Klaassen behind and Ollie Robinson was run out off the final ball to leave the Sharks short on 194-7.
In Thursday’s other early match, Somerset beat 2018 champions Worcestershire Rapids in a high-scoring encounter at Edgbaston.
Somerset piled up 229-8 with Pakistan T20 captain Babar Azam making 42 and former Worcestershire batsman Steven Davies scoring 60 in an opening partnership of 90.
Ed Barnard took some heavy punishment with the ball, conceding 55 off three overs, as Somerset hit 11 sixes in their 20 overs.
Worcestershire were never in the chase, falling to 62-4 and 117-6, and only some late aggression from Jake Libby (75 not out) and Daryl Mitchell (45) saw them finish on 213-7.
The Rapids have now lost three of their opening four games, with one no result, while Somerset have won back-to-back matches in the Central Group.
Meanwhile, Kent move above Sussex to top the South Group with the Sharks dropping to second.
Three more matches take place later on Thursday – Middlesex v Essex at Lord’s (18:15 BST), Surrey v Hampshire (18:30) at The Oval and Northants Steelbacks v Glamorgan at Edgbaston (18:35).
The game at The Oval will see 2,500 spectators allowed to attend, which will be the first crowd at any competitive professional cricket match this summer.
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