diff --git a/milli/Cargo.toml b/milli/Cargo.toml
index d252633f2..c08c1f76d 100644
--- a/milli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/milli/Cargo.toml
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ obkv = "0.2.0"
 once_cell = "1.5.2"
 ordered-float = "2.1.1"
 rayon = "1.5.0"
-regex = "1.4.3"
 roaring = "0.6.6"
 serde = { version = "1.0.123", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = { version = "1.0.62", features = ["preserve_order"] }
diff --git a/milli/src/criterion.rs b/milli/src/criterion.rs
index cc1fca01f..31ffed9b3 100644
--- a/milli/src/criterion.rs
+++ b/milli/src/criterion.rs
@@ -1,15 +1,10 @@
 use std::fmt;
 use std::str::FromStr;
 
-use once_cell::sync::Lazy;
-use regex::Regex;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 
 use crate::error::{Error, UserError};
 
-static ASC_DESC_REGEX: Lazy<Regex> =
-    Lazy::new(|| Regex::new(r#"(asc|desc)\(([\w_-]+)\)"#).unwrap());
-
 #[derive(Debug, Serialize, Deserialize, Clone, PartialEq, Eq)]
 pub enum Criterion {
     /// Sorted by decreasing number of matched query terms.
@@ -50,22 +45,11 @@ impl FromStr for Criterion {
             "proximity" => Ok(Criterion::Proximity),
             "attribute" => Ok(Criterion::Attribute),
             "exactness" => Ok(Criterion::Exactness),
-            text => {
-                let caps = ASC_DESC_REGEX
-                    .captures(text)
-                    .ok_or_else(|| UserError::InvalidCriterionName { name: text.to_string() })?;
-                let order = caps.get(1).unwrap().as_str();
-                let field_name = caps.get(2).unwrap().as_str();
-                match order {
-                    "asc" => Ok(Criterion::Asc(field_name.to_string())),
-                    "desc" => Ok(Criterion::Desc(field_name.to_string())),
-                    text => {
-                        return Err(
-                            UserError::InvalidCriterionName { name: text.to_string() }.into()
-                        )
-                    }
-                }
-            }
+            text => match text.rsplit_once(':') {
+                Some((field_name, "asc")) => Ok(Criterion::Asc(field_name.to_string())),
+                Some((field_name, "desc")) => Ok(Criterion::Desc(field_name.to_string())),
+                _ => Err(UserError::InvalidCriterionName { name: text.to_string() }.into()),
+            },
         }
     }
 }