Essex Men v Sussex Sharks Men
Vitality Blast
Ambassador Cruise Line Ground, Chelmsford
Friday 11 July 2025 | 7:00pm start
Team News
Essex Men: Michael Pepper, Paul Walter, Jordan Cox (wk), Matt Critchley, Luc Benkenstein, Charlie Allison, Matt Critchley, Noah Thain, Simon Harmer (c), Sam Cook, Mohammad Amir.
Sussex Sharks Men: Daniel Hughes, Harrison Ward, Tom Clark, James Coles, John Simpson (wk), Tom Alsop, Danny Lamb, Nathan McAndrew, Ollie Robinson, Tymal Mills, Henry Crocombe.
Match Details
Umpires: Ben Debenham & Nigel Llong
Match Referee: Peter Such
Scorers: Paul Parkinson & Graham Irwin
Toss: Sussex Sharks Men won the toss and elected to bat
Result:
Match Reaction
Match Highlights
Coming soon…
Match Report
Michael Pepper’s pyrotechnical 87 off 47 balls led Essex to their first home Men’s Vitality Blast victory in exactly a year as Sussex Sharks’ quarter-final hopes to a new battering.
The Eagles hadn’t won at the Ambassador Cruise Line Ground in a T20 since downing Kent Spitfires on July 11 2024, after a dismal beginning to this season.
Mohammad Amir’s three tight for 16, backed by two-fors for Simon Harmer, Sam Cook, and Shane Snate,r rolled the visitors for 145 – with a lively 52 from John Simpson the only bright spark for the Sharks.
Essex would have almost certainly won the reverse fixture had rain not intervened, and Pepper’s season-best made sure they weren’t thwarted again to give them just their second win in the competition.
Sussex have lost three of their last four Blast matches to slip into mid-table, with Sunday’s clash with Hampshire Hawks crucial to their hopes of a quarter-final spot.
The Sharks’ innings was a catastrophe from start to finish, having chosen to bat first in the sunshine, barring Simpson’s fifty.
Daniel Hughes got away with an edge to slip off the third ball of the match and despite rushing to 27 off 15 balls gave Snater a hanger at deep square leg.
The left-hander heavy top order struggle to deal with Simon Harmer spinning the ball away from them as the Eagles skipper returned two for 25 – lefty James Coles offered him a caught and bowled while righty Danny Lamb slapped to backward point when he returned later in the innings.
Amir and Snater were super-accurate to back up their captain as Sussex spluttered to 76 for four at the halfway point, with Tom Clark falling to Sam Cook.
Simpson was the antidote to the carousel of wickets with a smart half-century in a blink and you’ll miss it 25 balls – decorated by three sixes down the ground and another on the sweep.
He put on 39 with Tom Alsop and 42 with Lamb but neither foundation built skyscrapers in the run-rate graph.
And the last five wickets dissolved in 16 balls, with the last three falling in the space of four deliveries.
Lamb was the first of the quintet to fall, before Simpson didn’t get hold of a hook, Amir bowled Ollie Robinson and had Tymal Mills caught in successive balls and the innings was rounded off by Nathan McAndrew holing out.
Paul Walter and Jordan Cox gave Sussex hope by come and going inside three overs but once Pepper got motoring as every delivery to him felt like cannon fodder.
Bowling to Pepper is a nightmare as he mixes power with innovative flicks as he hammered his third fifty of the season in 22 balls.
Charlie Allison helped take a huge bite into the chase with a 69 stand, before the youngster tried for a third six in five balls and picked out deep midwicket.
It began a 20-ball boundary dry spell, with Lamb in particular hard to get away, but the run rate was in Essex’s favour and despite Matt Critchley hitting down deep square’s throat, Pepper and Luc Benkenstein made sure of the four points with an unbroken 54 run stand.
Pepper confirmed the emphatic victory by carting his 14th four to win with 23 balls to spare.
Purchase your England v India tickets!
The England Men under 19s are playing in a four day Test match at the Ambassador Cruise Line Ground this summer!
They will face India Men under 19s, including 14-year old IPL superstar Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who became the youngest player bought in an IPL auction after being selected by Rajasthan Royals. He is also the youngest player to score a century in IPL history!
Day one will begin on July 20 with the final day concluding on July 23.
Tickets are still available via our Ticket Site, so have a browse and get yourself down to CM2 to watch the next generation of international cricketers.
