Sussex Sharks team | Chris Nash, Luke Wright, Stiaan Van Zyl, Laurie Evans, Ben Brown (c) (wk), Chris Jordan, David Wiese, Jofra Archer, Danny Briggs, George Garton, Will Beer.
Essex Eagles team | Varun Chopra (6), Dan Lawrence (28), Ravi Bopara (25), Ryan ten Doeschate (27) (c), Ashar Zaidi (99), James Foster (7) (wk), Callum Taylor (67), Paul Walter (22), Simon Harmer (11), Mohammad Amir (5), Jamie Porter (44).
Umpires | Martin Saggers, Neil Bainton & Tim Robinson
Toss | Essex Eagles won the toss and elected to bowl first
Result | Sussex Sharks won by 55 runs
Match Reaction | Chris Silverwood reacts after NatWest T20 Blast exit
Match Report
Sussex Sharks beat Essex by 55 runs as the Eagles were eliminated from the NatWest T20 Blast at a windswept Hove.
In the final countdown, the only consolation for the Eagles was the knowledge that even had they won this match against the Sharks, it would not have been sufficient to take them to the next stage because of results elsewhere.
Chasing a Sussex score of 172 for 4, the Eagles slumped to a disappointing 117 all out in 15.5 overs as their batting imploded in disastrous fashion.
The Eagles reply got off to the worst possible start when Varun Chopra, scorer of a century 24 hours earlier against Kent Spitfires, was out to the fifth ball of the opening over.
Facing spinner Danny Briggs, he drove into the hands of George Garton on the deep mid-wicket boundary and departed for just a single. Then Dan Lawrence was dismissed with the first ball of the fourth over when he was caught at extra cover for 16 when facing David Wiese.
The bowler was again celebrating four balls later when he had Ravi Bopara well caught by wicket-keeper Ben Brown for 6 as the Eagles slumped to 33 for 3.
Ryan ten Doeschate was given a life on 9 when Danny Briggs spilled a chance at point but the fourth wicket fell soon after when Foster (2) gloved a catch to his fellow gloveman off the bowling of Chris Jordan.
Essex went from 45 for 4 to 49 for 5 with the departure of Ashar Zaidi who was caught for 3 on the boundary sweeping at Will Beer as wickets continued to tumble.
Callum Taylor joined ten Doeschate in a 15 runs stand but then both fell in four balls. The Eagles captain drove Will Beer to wide long-on for 27 and one run later, Taylor was bowled by Briggs for 5 as the innings capitulated to 65 for 7.
Paul Walter blasted his way to 19 including two sixes before picking out Stiaan van Zyl at deep square leg that gave Beer a third wicket and to bring a close to a 30 runs alliance with Simon Harmer.
The South African and Mohammad Amir took the total into three figures but with the score on 106, Amir was caught at mid-off for 5. Harmer reached 21, his highest score for Essex in the competition, before he was bowled by Jofra Archer.
Earlier Chris Nash scored a 35 ball half-century that included 2 sixes and 5 fours to underpin the Sharks innings after the home side had been out into bat. He and Luke Wright launched the innings with a stand of 84 in 9 overs before being parted when Wright was caught off Bopara for 37.
Later in the same over, Stian van Zyl was run out without facing a ball and then Brown was stumped for 4 when facing Harmer to leave the home side 93 for 3 in the 12th over.
Nash and Laurie Evans steadily built the platform for a respectable total until steeping up the momentum with 28 runs from two overs. It was Amir who ended the 69 runs partnership spanning seven overs when Nash played the ball onto his stumps in the penultimate over of the innings.
But the Sharks batsmen were to outpoint their Essex counterparts who never recovered from their poor start with five of the top-seven in the order failing to top 6 runs.
