TWENTY20 CUP, SOUTH, Chelmsford:
Sussex 130-2 beat Essex 126-7 by eight wickets (Sussex 2pts, Essex 0pts)

Goodwin hits out during Sussex's comfortable win at Chelmsford

Murray Goodwin hit an unbeaten 64 as Sussex cruised to an eight-wicket Twenty20 Cup win over Essex.

Chasing 127 for victory at Chelmsford, Goodwin batted throughout, hitting two sixes and six fours as Sussex reached their target with 10 balls to spare.

Earlier, Essex had struggled to find any momentum after Dwayne Smith (3-19) took the early wickets of Mark Pettini, Danish Kaneria and Matthew Walker.

And although Varun Chopra chipped in with 26, they stumbled to 126-7.

The victory saw Sussex move to the top of the South division, one point ahead of both Essex and Kent, albeit having played two games more.

Essex coach Paul Grayson told BBC Essex:

"There are no real positives to take from the night, apart from Adam Wheater's keeping, the best team won because we didn't turn up.

"If someone could have scored 60 or 70 for us we could have posted around 150 or 160 and that could have been competitive.

"It was a disappointing performance overall."

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