Murray Goodwin used all his experience to shepherd Sussex's run-chase which secured victory over Northants

Murray Goodwin swept Northamptonshire aside to claim Sussex’s place in the Twenty20 Cup finals and a shot at glory in the Champions League with a seven-wicket win with two balls to spare in the first semi-final.

Goodwin, whose form has almost totally deserted him at times this season, chose a grand stage to rediscover his touch, with 80 not out from 67 balls, the solitary fifty of the match, as Sussex somehow turned a cakewalk into a close encounter.

Set such a modest total to reach this evening’s final, a Sharks win never looked in doubt and found boundaries easy to come by, at least until a late wobble, while a nervous Steelbacks batting order hit just 11 fours and a six in their 20 overs.

Goodwin, the former Zimbabwe batsman, enlisted the support of Rory Hamilton-Brown, the star of Sussex’s quarter-final. They put on 91 together after the dismissal of Luke Wright.

With the score at 30, Wright holed out to mid-off with a mistimed drive for 18 off Andrew Hall.

But Hamilton-Brown offered good support to Goodwin, leaning into Monty Panesar with a six. It was the young all-rounder’s only boundary, but such were the gaps on offer to Sussex, it hardly mattered.

Goodwin was rarely rushed – he hit only a single four between overs 10 to 15. When his inside-edge off Lee Daggett found the fine-leg boundary in the 16th over, Sussex were already past 100.

The match then took a strange turn. Hall returned in the 18th over to bowl Hamilton-Brown for a run-a-ball 29, leaving Sussex with a seemingly straightforward target of 18 runs from 17 balls, yet Northants were roused into hopes of salvaging a match in which they had only once held the upper hand.

James Kirtley removes Northants opener Ian Harvey for 21 as Sussex restricted their opponents to 136 for six in 20 overs

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The wobble looked truly on when Dwayne Smith edged Johan van der Wath behind to the first ball of the penultimate over.

But Goodwin late-cut van der Wath for four off his sixth delivery, leaving Sussex just four from Hall’s last over, which was a formality.

Only when they reached 54 for one in the eighth over, after a stand of 31 between Rob White and Niall O’Brien, did the Steelbacks enjoy any real momentum with the bat.

The Sharks’ trio of spinners, Mike Yardy, Hamilton-Brown and Will Beer, helped by fast bowler Yasir Arafat (2-28 from four overs), lorded over Northants’ batsmen, who were strangely reticent to hit straight to the shorter Edgbaston boundaries.

Northants lost lynchpin Ian Harvey, chopping onto Arafat for 21, before White was run out after sharp fielding by Ed Joyce.

It was not until the eighth over that O’Brien hit the first six, and the Ireland wicketkeeper followed up with a succession of pre-meditated reverse-sweeps.

When O’Brien went, stumped off a Yardy wide attempting to heave to midwicket in the 11th over, the Steelbacks slumped to 74 for three and hope of an imposing total was over.

Nicky Boje (34 not out) tried vainly to pick up the pace, but he received little help from Alex Wakely or Riki Wessels.

Four overs passed without a single boundary until Boje drove for four in the 18th, and he was able to make the innings defendable by taking 41 from the last five, helped by van der Wath.

And though Northants defended 134 in their quarter-final, this proved a step too far.

Dwayne Smith's demise gave Northants late hope but Goodwin remained cool to see Sussex into the final

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Sussex captain Yardy welcomed the Champions League qualification but was more keen to focus on winning the domestic prize.

Yardy said: “The Champions League gets brought up in conversation but all the focus at the moment is on the final.

“Of course, the tournament will be a big thing to look forward to and, after today, we can sit down and looking forward to it and plan for it, but first and foremost we have the final to look forward to.

“People mention six million dollars and you hear so many different things. Before the semi-final you didn’t want to think about it too much because you are playing quality opposition.

“There are big figures being bandied around, which is exciting, but first and foremost we have the final.”

Yardy believes Goodwin’s contribution was crucial on a wicket taking spin.

He said: “When a guy bats through you tend to win games, so with Murray at the crease it was always pretty comfortable.

“If you get two new guys at the crease, it can become a little bit twitchy and Andrew Hall and Johan van der Wath are top-quality death bowlers.

“It was a difficult wicket to judge and maybe 150 was a good score and they weren’t too far off that. It was a decent pitch and it spun a little bit.”

Northants skipper Boje admitted: “We were thinking between 150 and 160 as a good total but we lost wickets at crucial stages and couldn’t get a proper partnership going.

“We had a couple of partnerships of 20s and 30s but nothing big.

“It was an excellent innings from Murray.”