Dwayne Smith was pure dynamite at Hove last night as his hat-trick made sure Sussex Sharks’ bid to retain their Pro40 League title will go to the last day of the season.

The 26-year-old has become big box office this season thanks mainly to his powerful hitting but last night Nottinghamshire Outlaws had no answer to some outstanding bowling from the West Indies’ all-rounder.

He took four wickets in his third over – the 15th of the innings – starting with Alex Hales courtesy of a stunning leg-side catch by Andrew Hodd.

Bilal Shafayat survived the next two balls before shovelling a delivery slanted across him to short fine leg. Kevin O’Brien walked in front of a straight one and Jake Ball, on his one-day debut, was like a rabbit in the headlights as Smith trimmed his off stump with the best ball of the lot before embarking on a 50 yard celebratory sprint with his stunned team-mates in hot pursuit.

Smith had struck in his second over when he defeated Adam Voges, who is in Australia’s one-day squad for the current series against England, with a yorker and he finished with six for 29 – the fifth best figures in Sussex’s one-day league history – when he bowled Alex Carter.

With Piyush Chawla picking up two wickets at the end the Outlaws lost their last nine for just 35 runs in 9.2 overs to lose by 152 runs.

When Sussex head to New Road on September 27 it will be the third time in four years that they have gone into the final game with the possibility of winning the Pro40 League. Somerset have games in hand but the Sharks are playing with such confidence in one-day cricket that it is hard to bet against them retaining their title.

There is room for improvement though. This was not the perfect performance against an Outlaws side shorn of several regulars. Rory Hamilton-Brown smashed three sixes and six fours off 27 balls and Ed Joyce made 42 so that when they reached 156-2 in the 25th over Sussex must have harboured hopes of a score in excess of 280.

All the top six got starts but Hamilton-Brown’s 49 remained the top score as Nottinghamshire’s spinners pegged Sussex back. Voges picked up 3-26 and Samit Patel took two wickets in successive deliveries.

Still, 254 was definitely defendable under lights and, as seems to be the case these days, Sussex got the job done. Robin Martin-Jenkins sparked the collapse when Samit’s younger brother Akhil Patel was caught behind in the 12th over but the night belonged to Smith. There had been groans of disappointment earlier in the day when he fell for 27, having hit two sixes out of the ground in the previous over.

But with the ball in his hand Smith proved even more devastating.