Sussex Sharks and Kent Spitfires are still looking for their first win in the Royal London Cup after playing four matches apiece.
Their Group A match at the 1st Central County Ground at Hove was abandoned in surreal circumstances with the Kent innings still 4.2 overs short of constituting a match. Both sides took a point each.
There were 34.4 overs of cricket, which was something of a miracle with the rain and very strong winds, with the floodlights burning brightly in the gloom.
A 29 over game was scheduled, with Kent deciding to field first. Sussex scored a slightly disappointing 209 for seven.
The highlight of their innings was a stand of 63 in eight overs between Travis Head (52), who made his third fifty of the campaign, and Ben Brown, with an inventive 38 from 29 deliveries in his first appearance in the competition this season.
Despite a late flurry of strokes from David Wiese, who made 31 from 23 balls, the Sussex score did not look enough. And that feeling was strengthened when Kent captain Ollie Robinson and former Sussex academy player Tawanda Muyeye hit 48 from their first five overs.
But then came the heaviest rain of the day and the umpires had no alternative but to call the game off with Kent still short of batting the ten overs that would have made a match.
The outcome means that Sussex and Kent have each lost two games and had two abandoned and both counties face an uphill struggle to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Nathan Gilchrist (Kent) after taking his first wickets in the Royal London Cup: “We bowled well as a group, and then to come out and try to chase down that score as well as we did I think we were on track, potentially, to win our first game of the tournament.”
“It’s a bit frustrating having the second game in a row rained off. But we can’t do much about the weather at the moment. It’s just one of those days, a bit frustrating but hopefully we can move onto the next game and get a win.”
Travis Head (Sussex): We’ve got to make sure we’re ready for Sunday now. We’ve had a few matches called off in the T20 and now a couple in this competition. There’s a big advantage batting second in these situations.”
“It was disappointing not to bat in the final overs because I felt in good nick. It was frustrating not to go on and make a big score. We’ve got to look to win all our remaining matches now. We’ve got to rock up on Sunday and get stuck in and get a good result.”