David Willey grabs three wickets and then smashes century as Northamptonshire

A tenth six, this time off Tymal Mills, took him to his first T20 hundred and he departed to a standing ovation from a full-house crowd of 6,000 after he was caught by George Bailey at wide mid-on off the next ball.

Willey – who else – made that breakthrough but Nash and Jayawardene led an impressive response as they put on 84 from just 48 balls to lay the foundations for Sussex.

The Sussex Sharks were outplayed in the first quarter-final of the competition on Wednesday as Willey, who made his one-day worldwide debut for England in May, followed bowling figures of three for 27 with an awesome innings of 100, with seven fours and 10 sixes.

And Willey delivered what his team wanted as, after Nash had taken eight from Rory Kleinveldt’s first over, the all-rounder struck, getting rid of dangerman Luke Wright.

But once Jayawardene fell to a brilliant one-handed diving catch on the boundary by Josh Cobb the Sussex innings fell away.

The 38-year-old had fallen for 50 to Muhammad Azharullah and the Steelbacks were desperate to ensure that wicket helped stem the flow of runs.

But Nash continued to tick along and he reached his half-century in 33 balls thanks to a misfield from Rob Keogh on the boundary. Jayawardene reached his fifty from 30 deliveries, with a six and nine fours. The Australian global batsman was given out lbw even though he appeared to inside-edge the delivery from Stone on to his boot.

Kleinveldt bowled Craig Cachopa for 13 three balls later as Northants fought their way back into the game. I’ve got fond memories of the last Finals Day in 2013, when I got a hat-trick, and we’re looking forward to going back. We could have had fielders in the middle of Hove town centre and they might not have been near enough to catch some of his shots, when he got going we felt pretty powerless to be honest.

And after a tentative first two overs, Willey started to go through the gears, smashing 18 from Jordan’s opening six deliveries.

The Steelbacks ended the powerplay 60 without loss and Richard Levi then started to click, with one square leg six particularly eye-catching.

His innings eclipsed New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum’s 42-ball ton for Birmingham as the fastest of the English summer, and was the third-fastest Twenty20 century scored on British soil, behind Andrew Symonds (34 balls for Kent in 2004) and Scott Styris (37 balls for Sussex in 2012).

But Willey bit back in the next over. I’ve had a rest after my (ankle ligament) injury to get myself in a good place and it paid off tonight.

But Cobb and Alex Wakely saw the Steelbacks home easily to secure a memorable victory on the south coast and keep the hopes of glory alive.