Bangladesh bowling sensation Mustafizur Rahman’s four-wicket haul on his NatWest T20 Blast debut and Chris Jordan’s late blitz helped Sussex win the South Group encounter against Essex by 24 runs at the County Ground in Chelmsford on Thursday (July 21). The victory helped Sussex move up to the fourth position on the points table.

Captain Luke Wright (32) and No. 3 batsman Philip Salt (33) were chief contributors at the top of the order before Ravi Bopara’s twin strikes, in his successive overs, reduced Sussex to 119 for 4. Ross Taylor was run out soon after but Jordan’s 21-ball unbeaten cameo worth 45 at the end helped visitors post a daunting 201-run challenge for the home side, reports the Cricbuzz.

Essex’s chase never took off. Barring a 42-run partnership between Ashar Zaidi and skipper Bopara (32), the hosts kept losing wickets are regular intervals.

Mustafizur got the ball in sixth over and gave 4 runs with 3 dot balls. Mustafizur, coming back for his final spell, first got rid of Bopara in the 16th over with four dot balls to peg Essex back.

In his next over, he got rid of James Foster and Callum Taylor with three dot balls. And, in the last over he sent back Ryan ten Doeschate to deny the opposition any chance of a late recovery.

Brief scores: Sussex 200 for 6 from 20 overs (Chris Jordan 45*, Phillip Salt 33, Luke Wright 32; Ravi Bopara 2-32) beat Essex 176 for 8 from 20 overs (Daniel Lawrence 36, Ravi Bopara 32; Mustafizur Rahman 4-23) by 24 runs.