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Greece international Ari Karvelas proves Leicestershire's Achilles heel

Ari Karvelas celebrates a breakthrough Sussex CCC

Sussex 123 for 2 (Clark 53*) beat Leicestershire 120 (Karvelas 4-21, Rawlins 3-22) by eight wickets

Sussex beat Leicestershire by eight wickets in a Royal London One-Day Cup match at Hove which lasted a total of just 50.5 overs, finishing so quickly that the crowd had time to watch most of the second half of Brighton's Premier League clash against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Leicestershire were bowled out for just 120 in 32.4 overs before Sussex, led by Ali Orr and Tom Clark, knocked off the runs in only 18.1 overs. Leicestershire came here with two wins out of two - now both these sides have won two out of three.

When Sussex bowled there was a little swing from Brad Currie, who took two wickets, and some movement from the clever Ari Karvelas on a pitch with a hint of green in it. But there was also some indifferent batting by the away side.

Sussex had chosen to bowl and the pick of their attack was Karvelas, 28, who was born in South Africa and represented Greece in a T20 World Cup qualifier against Italy. He is on a month's trial with Sussex and has impressed with both bat and ball.

"I played some first-class cricket in South Africa which helped me before I made my county debut at Lord's last month," Karvelas said. "This is a great opportunity because Sussex have gone out on a limb for me.

"We keep getting better, and I think that showed today. The ball was nipping around. It helps when there is a little assistance in the wicket. We were relentless, hitting our lengths as a unit. And then we imposed our stature with the bat, which is what you have to do chasing small totals."

There were also three wickets for Delray Rawlins, who had figures of 3 for 22 in 5.4 overs. These were his best figures in List A cricket, beating his previous best, his 3 for 50 against Gloucestershire on Friday, in a match where he also recorded his batting best in the competition.

The Leicestershire procession started with the fifth ball of the second over when Nick Welch inside-edged Currie onto his leg stump. It was 6 for 2 when Rishi Patel played crookedly forward to the first ball of the third over and was lbw to Karvelas.

The wickets kept tumbling. It was 28 for 3 when Lewis Hill was lbw to Karvelas to the last ball of the seventh over and then 29 for 4 in the ninth when Louis Kimber drove Karvelas into the hands of Archie Lenham at mid-on. Next ball it was 29 for 5 when Harry Swindells, coming forward and aiming for the leg side, was lbw to Karvelas.

Arron Lilley played on to Currie for a single to make it 30 for 6 in the 12th over and Leicestershire reached their nadir in the 16th when Tom Scriven edged Henry Crocombe to Tom Clarke at first slip for 9.

There was then a partial recovery as Wiaan Mulder (27) and Roman Walker (23) featured in the best partnership of the innings, adding 44 in 11 overs before Walker was bowled by Rawlins.

Rawlins broke through again in his next over when Mulder, going back to cut when he might have been forward, was bowled. Beuran Hendricks hit Lenham for six over midwicket and there was also a breezy 16 off 18 deliveries off last man Chris Wright in a last-wicket stand worth 27 before Rawlins brought the innings to an end by bowling Hendricks.

When Sussex batted they soon lost Harrison Ward, who played on to Wright in the fourth over. But the match was put beyond doubt by Orr, who hit Mulder for two vast sixes in the same over, both crashing into the block of flats behind deep backward square leg on the east side of the ground.

When Orr was caught at long-on for a 40-ball 44, with four fours to go with his brace of sixes, Clark, in the company of Cheteshwar Pujara, took Sussex comfortably home with an unbeaten 53 off 51 balls, with seven fours and a big six over midwicket.

Sussex 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st15HD WardAGH Orr
2nd81TGR ClarkAGH Orr
3rd27CA PujaraTGR Clark