Squad announced for Glamorgan clash

Aaron Thomason showed plenty of resilience in the second innings against Lancashire last week

Ian Salisbury has named an unchanged 12-man squad, plus two travelling reserves, for Sussex’s LV= Insurance County Championship match against Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens that starts on Thursday.

The team go into the match after an encouraging display against a strong Lancashire side at Emirates Old Trafford in the opening round last week. Time lost in the game to bad light and snow meant Sussex were denied the opportunity to set Lancashire a total to chase having battled hard to wipe-out the home side’s lead for the loss of just two second innings wickets.

Tom Haines & Ollie Robinson added 126 for the seventh wicket in Sussex's first innings at Old Trafford

The resulting draw, plus six bonus points, meant that Sussex left the north west with 14 points. All three of last week’s matches in Group 3 also ended in draws, so there are no early front runners for the top two spots that will ensure progression to the top division after ten matches. Five points separate top side Lancashire and bottom-placed Yorkshire at this early stage.

Tom Haines carried his pre-season form into the competitive curtain raiser, scoring a career-best 155 in Sussex’s first innings and, in their second contributed to a 72-run opening partnership with Aaron Thomason, who was resolute on his way to an unbeaten 46 from 189 balls. In his first match as Championship vice-captain, Ollie Robinson scored a half-century and picked up two wickets. Sean Hunt bowled with great discipline and stamina as he took 3 for 47 from 21 overs on first-class debut.

A very impressive first-class debut for @SeanHunt139 so far! 🔥

Highlights from day three vs. Lancashire are available to watch now:

— Sussex Cricket (@SussexCCC) April 11, 2021

Looking back on the match, Championship and one-day head coach, Salisbury, said, “The trip to Old Trafford demonstrated exactly how we want to play our cricket this year. From the toss onwards we made brave decisions with the aim of giving ourselves the best chance of winning the game, our intensity levels were superb, and the guys had each other’s backs and showed they won’t back down.

“I was actually gutted we didn’t get the full four days in, as we had fought so hard to get ourselves to parity in the third innings with eight wickets in hand. It would have been fascinating to see what would have happened if we had had the chance to push on and try and win the game.

“Coming undone in the third innings of a match was something that happened a few times last season, so for the guys at the top of the order to show their resilience was really encouraging. It’s only the first game of the season, of course, but the fight we showed bodes well.

Looking ahead to his side’s next encounter, Salisbury added, “The games come thick and fast at the moment, but we had a good day’s training back at Hove on Tuesday, including a visit from Matt Prior who was extremely kind in giving some time to work with the players and coaches. Matt’s passionate about Sussex and what James and I are looking to build and it was a privilege to have Sussex’s most-capped men’s Test cricketer sharing his wisdom with our young squad.

Catches, catches 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 catches! 🧤⚡️

Great to have @MattPrior13 back helping out with @Sarah_Taylor30 yesterday! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/5e6atuDl8w

— Sussex Cricket (@SussexCCC) April 14, 2021

“I’m intrigued to see how this week’s match plays out. Both Glamorgan and ourselves went away from home in the first round and showed their quality against teams who would probably be labelled among the favourites in our groups. I was impressed with how Glamorgan performed against Yorkshire and I think this week will be a really good match up between two sides who showed great character as well as skill in their opening fixtures.”

Sussex squad:

Ben Brown (capt.), Ollie Robinson (vice capt.), Jack Carson, Tom Clark, Henry Crocombe, George Garton, Tom Haines, Sean Hunt, Stuart Meaker, Delray Rawlins, Aaron Thomason, Stiaan van Zyl

Cover: Will Beer, Ali Orr

Phil Salt remains unavailable through injury (foot).

Opposition:

Glamorgan’s opening fixture in this year’s competition against Yorkshire at Headingley was also deprived of an exciting finish as a result of time lost. The Welshmen posted 330 after being asked to bat first and then bowled the hosts out for 193. Glamorgan then declared their second innings at 241 for 4, setting Yorkshire 379 for victory. Time was called on day four with Yorkshire 223 for 4.

Coach Matthew Maynard’s men relied largely on lower-order runs for their first innings total, with Dan Douthwaite (57), Timm van der Gugten (85) and Michael Hogan (54) scoring half-centuries from eight, nine and ten in the batting order respectively. Sussex will be wary of young all-rounder, Douthwaite given that he has scored a hundred and a half-century in his two first-class matches against the county to date. Billy Root scored an 110 not out in Glamorgan’s second innings to go with 43 in their first. He put on 212 for the fifth-wicket with fellow centurion and captain, Chris Cooke. Veteran seamer, Hogan took four wickets across Yorkshire two innings, with Douthwaite taking three.

𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗥𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀

Take a look at the best bits of Billy Root's fourth first-class century for Glamorgan, as he compiled 110* against his native county 👏#YORvGLAM | #GoGlam pic.twitter.com/vDjunlu79Q

— Glamorgan Cricket 🏏 (@GlamCricket) April 12, 2021

It was an encouraging start for the side that finished winless and bottom of the Central Group in last year’s Bob Willis Trophy. Glamorgan have not enjoyed much red-ball success against Sussex in recent years, however, recording their last Championship win in the fixture as far back as 2000. The last match between the two sides was a draw in 2019. An interesting history of the two clubs’ encounters is available on the Glamorgan website.

Squad: Chris Cooke (capt.), Andy Balbirnie, Kiran Carlson, Tom Cullen, Dan Douthwaite, Michael Hogan, David Lloyd, Billy Root, Nick Selman, Callum Taylor, Timm van der Gugten, Roman Walker, James Weighell

Match Information

Play is scheduled to start at 11am on all four days. There are some changes to the hours of play on days one, two and three to allow for a break in play during the funeral of HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh. As per government guidelines, the match will be played behind closed doors.

Supporters can watch every ball via Glamorgan’s live stream, which will be hosted on the Sussex Cricket Match Centre alongside a live scorecard, stats and video clips of key moments.