Sussex well beaten in first game
Sussex lost their opening match in the Champions League, as New South Wales recorded a comfortable 35-run victory.
The Australian team batted first and despite a difficult, slow pitch with variable bounce, they made 130-2.
Phil Hughes hit an assured 62 from 64 balls and shared an unbroken 90 with Moises Henriques who hit three fours and two sixes in 51 from 33 deliveries.
Sussex lost acting skipper Ed Joyce first ball in the opening over and could only muster 95-8.
The Australia side secured their place in the second round with their second victory, following a 53-run rout of Eagles.
Sussex, who now have to beat Eagles in their final group match on Tuesday, were without several key players.
Skipper Mike Yardy became ill shortly before the match started, while Matt Prior was rested by England and Luke Wright has not yet arrived in India due to illness.
The pitch made expansive shots difficult, and Sussex kept the scoring at a respectable rate, collecting the wicket of dangerous opener David Warner in the eighth over courtesy of a superb diving stop and direct hit from Dwayne Smith at backward point.
606: DEBATE
Henriques should be certainty in the ODI and Twenty20 national squads and even the Test team
cubancricket
But the talented Portuguese-born Henriques ignited the innings with some magnificent hitting, 17 coming from the 11th over, which was bowled by Indian leg-spinner Piyush Chawla.
One six that disappeared 15 or so rows back over mid-wicket was measured at 101 metres, the fourth biggest of the tournament.
Sussex managed to prevent a boundary being scored in the final four overs, but a rasping Hughes swipe was dropped by Joyce at mid-wicket and Henriques reached fifty in the final over when Chawla spilled a difficult chance in the deep.
A skidding Brett Lee delivery then catapulted Joyce's off-stump out of the ground.
Rory Hamilton-Brown showed some positive intent when he smashed a straight drive back at Lee, the paceman unable to hold a stinging chance and suffering a hand injury.
But the Sussex all-rounder was totally deceived by leg-spinner Steve Smith and comfortably stumped.
Sussex's Smith fired leg-side fours in consecutive overs but he fell in the 10th when he tried to make room to hit volatile left-armer Doug Bollinger, who took great delight in seeing the off-stump flattened.
Andrew Hodd played some Tillakaratne Dilshan-style scoops over his head, particularly brave as he had been hit flush on the Sussex martlets badge on his helmet by a wayward Smith beamer whilst keeping wicket.
He was brilliantly taken by Smith, who managed to catch the ball above his head on the long-on boundary but keep his balance and stay inside the ropes, giving the impressive Henriques a third wicket.
Joyce acknowledged man-of-the-match Henriques and said of the 22-year-old: "He was the difference between the sides."
Henriques said: "I tried to stay on the front foot as much as I could and try to hit straight, even if it was short I didn't see it getting up much."
Asked whether whether he favoured batting or bowling he said: "Whichever is doing better."
In the second game on Sunday, Virender Sehwag and Dinesh Karthik both hit half-centuries as the Delhi Daredevils claimed a a 50-run win over Sri Lanka's Wayamba to keep their hopes of winning the trophy alive.
Sehwag's 66 off 42 deliveries, followed by Karthik's 61 off 41 deliveries - including three consecutive sixes off Ajantha Mendis - helped their side to a total of 170-5.
Discarded England batsman Owais Shah made 18 off 10 balls for Delhi, after a duck in the previous game.
Dirk Nannes claimed four wickets and Glenn McGrath weighed in with two more for Delhi as Wayamba could only reach 120-7 off their 20 overs, Mahela Jayawardene the only batsman to put up a serious fight with a knock of 53.
