MIKE YARDY praised the match-winning contribution of Murray Goodwin after leading Sussex Sharks to the Twenty20 finals for the first time.

The Sussex skipper wasn't needed with the bat as Goodwin made an undefeated 80 to guide his side to a seven-wicket win over Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Edgbaston today.

Although Goodwin only hit the winning boundary off the fourth ball of the final over Sussex always had the run chase under control.

Yardy 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 but we got there in the end.

"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."

Goodwin hit 11 fours and the match-winning stand was put together with Rory Hamilton-Brown who made 29 off 30 balls in a stand of 91 in 13.2 overs for the second wicket.

Luke Wright had earlier struck 18 off 13 deliveries to give the innings some important momentum at the start.

Earlier Sussex had fielded superbly with all seven bowlers used by Yardy giving him the control he needed.

James Kirtley got the key wicket when he bowled Ian Harvey for 21 and only Northants' skipper Nicky Boje (34 not out) was able to escape the Sussex shackles.

Yardy and leg-spinner Will Beer conceded 49 runs in eight overs between them with Yardy taking 1-23 and Beer 1-26.

Northamptonshire scored four boundaries off the last eight balls but their total always looked 20 runs short of being competitive on a dry pitch.

Regardless of how they do in the final later today Sussex have qualified for the Champions League in India between October 8-23 although Goodwin is banned from playing because of his links with the banned Indian Cricket League.