Sussex Sharks 192 for 4 (Simpson 63, Hughes 44) beat Essex 191 for 5 (Walter 58, Pepper 52) by six wickets
John Simpson hurried Sussex Sharks to an opening-day Vitality Blast success with eight sixes in a whirlwind 63 from 23 balls against Essex.
The wicketkeeper-batsman dealt almost exclusively in maximums - he only hit one four - as he flayed the Essex attack to all parts of Chelmsford in a ferocious one-man pyrotechnic display. He put on 82 with James Coles for the third wicket in five-and-a-half overs to help Sussex towards their target with 24 balls and six wickets to spare. Coles's own half-century was almost overshowed.
For Essex it was another chastening T20 evening. They won just three games when finishing bottom of the south group last year, and this performance did not augur well for an improvement this time around.
Daniel Hughes lay the foundations for the Sharks to chase down 192 with a hard-hitting 44, but it was Simpson who inflicted the damage, starting with a six off the first ball he faced.
Michael Pepper and Paul Walter put on 105 from 62 balls for the first Essex wicket, both batsmen reaching fifties, but apart from a whirlwind 36 at a strike-rate of 200 by Luc Benkenstein, Essex's 191 for 5 looked slightly undercooked. And so it proved.
Essex, put in on a green wicket, reached 53 without loss in a powerplay they did not quite dominate. However, the gloves came off when the Sussex spinners were introduced with Walter leaning back and skying Danny Briggs for six over long-on and Pepper launching James Coles over deep midwicket's head for a maximum. The two slow bowlers would go for 72 from a combined seven overs, but shared three of the five wickets to fall.
The innings exploded briefly in the 10th over with three sixes off Brad Currie, two of them to Pepper, who reached his half-century from 33 balls. However, Danny Lamb ended the onslaught when he bowled Pepper, who was attempting a reverse sweep.
Walter followed Pepper to fifty with a lofted, straight-driven four from his 30th ball. But he lost Matt Critchley soon after, picking out long-off. Walter himself went in similar fashion, caught at long-on, and Wiaan Mulder holed out on the midwicket boundary.
Benkenstein, however, had Briggs's measure with three sixes down the ground, two in one over. He sent a fourth over Coles's head, but next ball played over one that angled in and lost his middle and leg stumps.
Sussex lost Tom Clark early on, chipping Charlie Bennett to mid-on the ball after easing him over long-off for six. It did not seriously derailed Sussex as Hughes rattled off boundaries at a rate of almost two runs a ball, and Coles lofted Zaman Akhter for a straight six. They had knocked off 79 of the target by the end of their powerplay.
However, with 10 boundaries to his name, Hughes tried to reach his fifty with a six but was caught at long-off.
John Simpson showed him how to do it to his first ball. Simpson evidently wanted an early night as he added a second maximum in only four balls faced with two more following before his innings was a dozen balls old. A fifth was pulled high over square leg to bring up the fifty partnership in just 24 balls.
Maximum No7, driven straight marked his own half-century from just 18 balls. Five balls later he departed, caught predictably in the deep with just 30 needed for victory. Coles exited with just two runs required for 50 from 29 balls.
