Durham batsmen look vulnerable to Sharks attack

T20 Blast quarter-final
Sky Sports Cricket, 6.30pm Friday

Sussex qualified for the T20 Blast quarter-finals with victories in each of their last three games and they look primed to secure their place at finals day with victory over Durham.

The Sharks have hit form in the 20-over competition at just the right time and were tournament favourites with several firms as the last-eight clashes began on Thursday.

A balanced and potent bowling attack has been central to their success with the searing pace of Tymal Mills, the reliability of seamers Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan and the guile of leg-spinner Rashid Khan forming a formidable unit.

Khan, ranked the number one T20 bowler in the world, has left for international duty with Afghanistan but Danny Briggs and Will Beer are able deputies and took four wickets between them in their latest win over Middlesex.

Seam bowling is usually key at Chester-le-Street, however. Archer leads the Sharks' wicket-taking charts with 17 scalps in 12 games but Mills has come into form in their last three outings taking five wickets, including a hat-trick against Glamorgan. He could be Durham's tormentor-in-chief.

England have recalled James Vince for the fourth Test against India which begins at the Rose Bowl on Thursday.

Vince, dropped after the winter tour to New Zealand, has been been included in a 14-man squad as cover for Jonny Bairstow, who fractured a finger in England's third-Test defeat at Trent Bridge.

Afghanistan are 1-6 to complete a 3-0 series win over Ireland in Friday's final T20 encounter at Bready. The hosts are 4-1 to avoid a series whitewash.

Recommendations
Sussex
2pts 4-6 general
T Mills top Sussex wicket-taker
1pt 7-2 bet365

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