Sussex battle hard in defeat at Glamorgan

Glamorgan eventually managed to defeat Sussex at The Sophia Gardens County Ground in a game that swung back and forth across the full four days.

Oli Carter and Delray Rawlins returned to the crease on day 4 and both batted valiantly to ensure the game would go all the way to the end. Carter who hit a career best 185 in the first innings, batted beautifully once again, this time reaching 85.

The pair put on a superb partnership of 107 at a vital time in the game, batting maturely and competently to keep Sussex in the match.

With Rawlins and Carter at the crease the game looked like it would be heading for a draw, but it turned once again as Glamorgan managed to break the partnership and dismiss the remaining Sussex batsman, leaving them with a target of 141 runs from 40 overs.

Glamorgan would have felt confident that they could chase the runs down, however the Sussex bowling attack came back fighting almost instantly.

On-loan seamer Jack Brooks took the wicket of Adam Byrom, and then the in-form Sean Hunt dismissed both David Lloyd and Colin Ingram to leave the hosts on 9-3.

17-year-old leg-spinner Archie Lenham was brought into the attack after 16 overs and held his end extremely well, as he has done in all formats this season, frustrating Sam Northeast and Kiran Carlson who had begun to build momentum.

Lenham was eventually rewarded as he dismissed Carlson for 45, tempting the Glamorgan batsman to come down the track only to miss the ball and be stumped by Tim Seifert. At that stage they still only required 56 runs, but with wickets falling it still wasn’t a certainty.

Northeast and the latest batter to the crease Billy Root stabilised the chase but with Glamorgan still needing 23 from 39 balls Root was caught behind brilliantly by Seifert off the bowling of Jack Brooks, setting up a tense finish.

The experienced Northeast eventually got Glamorgan over the line, with 23 balls and 5 wickets in hand.

Sussex can take pride from the way they dug deep and continued to put Glamorgan on the back foot even though a win appeared to be out of reach going into the final day.

Henry Crocombe and Sean Hunt bowled beautifully take wickets in both innings, and Oli Carter’s 185 and 83 came in spectacular fashion.

The next round of County Championship fixtures start on Sunday 26th June with Sussex hosting Derbyshire at The 1st Central County Ground.