"Bonkers"

Well, with eight 20-20 matches played and seven won, Sussex are camped at the top of the southern division, peering down into the gloom to try and see who their nearest rivals are. What a fantastic start to the defence of our title! It's like supporting another team, another really successful and scarily classy team that you know your team will never be like.

But it is my team!

I did not have high hopes for Sussex and 2020 this year, and I think that not having high hopes is exactly how 2020 should be approached as a supporter. As soon as you start having high hopes about 2020 you are destined for a life of heart wrenching, room pacing, finger eating nervous tension which is completely incompatible with getting things done in the real world. Far better to embrace the fact that we will win and we will lose and that the losing part should not be agonised over. Only with this philosophy can I cope with 2020 cricket; I have decided to firmly believe that if we lose it does not matter. Luckily the team are approaching things far more competitively...

On Friday evening I was treated to an utterly delicious evening of 2020 at Hove. The visitors were Hampshire, one of our favourite teams to beat, and we bowled first which means that at least the first half of the match can be viewed in a state nearing relaxation. One exciting addition at Hove was a real live trumpet player who tootled Sussex by the Sea into the PA system at regular intervals - brilliant! The Sussex reply started badly with Matt going for a duck but what happened after that was just - in the words of Dizzee - ''bonkers''. I'm not sure I've ever seen the ball pounded around the ground like that before. It was men versus boys and all credit to Murray and McCullum. The game ended about 40 minutes early, just in time for the football, which could be nothing but an anticlimax after a display of such excitement and skill.
The winning continued on Sunday - albeit in a less sensational way - against another of our favourite teams to beat, Surrey.

So why - bearing in mind this could all change in the blink of an eye - are we doing so well? Because although there is definitely more luck involved in 2020 than in the other forms of the game, to win so consistently suggests we have a formula. I think the answer lies in three things:
1) We don't rely on one or two people to win - we are truly a team and every player is trusted and relied upon. So unlike other teams, we don't just crumble when our 'big' player loses his wicket 2) Most of the team are all-rounders (in the 2020 form of the game) which gives us a depth in both the batting and the bowling and 3) Holding Chris Nash back in the batting means we have a proper quality batter coming in just at the point when other counties would be starting to give up.

We also shouldn't underestimate our overseas players. The fact that two of them, certainly, love Sussex to bits (can't comment on McCullum) is so important. As is the fact that we don't over rely on them - the team is not built around them, they are genuinely part of the team.
Well done, Robbo.

Let's see what happens next...