Sussex Sharks vs Glamorgan - Match Report

Sussex Sharks made it three wins out of four in the Vitality Blast when they outplayed Glamorgan at Hove, winning by 78 runs with 4.4 overs to spare.

         First James Coles led the way with the bat, with an unbeaten 75, before Nathan McAndrew took over with the ball, with figures of five for 19 from his four overs.  At one point Glamorgan, who had also won two out of three before this fixture, were 49 for seven and appeared to be heading for an even heavier defeat.

             They needed a challenging 196 at 9.8 runs an over and made a bright start but then, in the fourth over, their captain Kiran Carson hit Ollie Robinson tamely to Coles at midwicket.

            In the next over Ben Kellaway was caught on the deep midwicket boundary by Tom Clark off McAndrew and the Australian put himself on a hat-trick when Colin Ingram gloved his next delivery to the keeper.

       That made it 40 for three in the fifth over.  And worse was to come for the visiting side.  In the seventh over Will Smale, attempting to swing a low full toss from Coles to the boundary, lost his off stump instead.  Then McAndrew had Chris Cooke caught behind and placed himself on another hat-rick when he dismissed Dan Douthwaite (bowled middle stump) and Timm van der Gugten (caught at backward-point).  Again, McAndrew missed out on his hat-trick but he had taken five wickets for seven runs in two overs and Glamorgan, at 49 for seven after eight overs, were in disarray.

         Asa Tribe gave their innings a measure of respectability with a 21-ball 34, with a four and three sixes, before he was brilliantly caught by the running and diving Daniel Hughes at short third man and Tymal Mills wrapped it up with two in two.

     Sussex, who chose to bat first, were again indebted to the in-form Coles, who powered his way to his 75 from just 43 deliveries, with seven fours and three sixes.  It was his second fifty of the campaign, and his fourth in the Vitality Blast.  But Tom Alsop was a close second best, with 50 from 27, with five sixes, as the pair struck 90 runs from nine overs for the fourth wicket, with 52 runs coming from the last three overs.

           Glamorgan had hoped for something better after dismissing the dangerous Hughes for just a single in the second over.  Harrison Ward, after a quiet three matches, made his first meaningful contribution of the season, with a bludgeoning 38, with four fours and two sixes, as he added fifty for the second wicket with the dangerous  John Simpson (26) from 28 balls.

             But it was Coles who provided the vital acceleration, raising the hundred in the 13th over as he lofted Mason Crane over extra-cove for four before lifting his next delivery into the pavilion for six.

              Glamorgan fielded six bowlers but  Douthwaite, whose first two overs went for 32, was surprisingly given a third and that went for 16 as Coles drove him straight for six before Alsop hit him over long-on for another maximum.

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