T20 Blast: 16-year-old Archie Lenham takes 3-14 as Sussex hammer Hampshire by nine wickets
- Published
T20 Blast, Hove: |
Hampshire 154-7: Vince 36, Lenham 3-14 |
Sussex 155-2 (16.2 overs): Salt 72*, Bopara 56* |
Sussex (2 pts) beat Hampshire by nine wickets |
Sussex made it two wins from two as they romped to a Saturday night T20 derby victory over Hampshire at Hove.
They now stand tied at the top of South Group after superbly matching Surrey and Kent's 100 per cent starts.
Sussex's 16-year-old spinning discovery Archie Lenham took 3-14 as Hampshire were limited to 154-7 from 20 overs.
It was nowhere near enough as Phil Salt (72 off 44 balls) and Ravi Bopara (56 from 42) shared a 113-run stand to reach 155-2 with 22 balls to spare.
After taking 1-34 on his debut in Friday's win over Gloucestershire, Lenham made a bad start to his home debut when he put down a simple chance at backward point.
But Lenham - whose grandfather Les and father Neil both played for Sussex - had the strength of character to quickly put that behind him.
Still a month short of his 17th birthday, he claimed the wickets of Tom Alsop, Lewis McManus and Joe Weatherley in successive overs as Hampshire stumbled.
After the early loss of Travis Head, England contender Salt then followed up his first-night 77 with another stunning knock containing five sixes and five fours.
He was well backed by 36-year-old Bopara, who was in his second season as an Essex regular when Lenham was born on 23 July 2004.