Rain restricts play on day three

Australian Marnus Labuschagne scored his third hundred of the season for Glamorgan on a rain-shortened third day of their Specsavers County Championship division two match against Sussex at The 1st Central County Ground.

Just 21 overs were possible  before rain arrived with Glamorgan 218 for one in their second innings – still 16 behind – with Labuschagne 131 not out.

Labuschagne, who made his Test debut for Australia last October, has already made 121 against Northamptonshire and 137 against Gloucestershire during his stint as Glamorgan’s overseas player and the 24-year-old hasn’t offered a chance here on a pitch which has flattened out since 15 wickets fell on the first day.

Opener Nick Selman, who carried his bat in the first innings, has so far helped Labuschagne add 218 with the Glamorgan record for the second wicket against Sussex of 238, set in 1962 by Alan Jones and Tony Lewis at Hastings, now in their sights.

They resumed on 137 for 1 with Labuschagne quickly adding the 23 runs needed to lodge his seventh first-class hundred which he reached with a leg glance to the boundary off Chris Jordan. Labuschagne hit two boundaries in an over off four different bowlers and always looked to play positively.

Sussex skipper Ben Brown rung the changes, using six bowlers in the 80 minutes of play before the rain arrived but neither batsman looked troubled by either the four seamers or two spinners he employed.

While Labuschagne played with more freedom, Selman was happy to accumulate patiently as the partnership grew. When they came off he had faced 174 balls for his 64 with eight fours while Labuschagne has hit 22 boundaries from 190 deliveries so far. They added 81 runs in 21 overs before going off.

The rain intensified during the afternoon and after two inspections umpires Paul Baldwin and David Millns abandoned play for the day at 5pm. Glamorgan still trail by 16 runs but will fancy their chances of avoiding defeat now with a day to go and maintaining their unbeaten start to the Championship campaign.

Sussex batsman, Luke Wells, summed up the state of play: "It tends to be the way at Hove and around the country at the moment that once the balls gets a bit softer it loses its zip and there isn't much sideways movement either. I thought we bowled very well on the first day but since then we've thrown a lot at them and, to be fair, Labuschagne and Selman have played pretty well. 

"We have to give it everything tomorrow to try and get some early wickets and then who knows? With the firepower in our top order we would back ourselves to score quickly at a good rate and chase a target. If we have a fast run chase we'll definitely be going for it."

While we had more than 19.5 overs today, Sussex Cricket would like to offer ticket holders from today free entry to day four. Spectators will need to present their day three ticket as proof of purchase in order to gain free entry on the final day.