Despite a late flurry of wickets, Glamorgan overcame Sussex at Sophia Gardens, with four wickets and an over to spare.
Glamorgan won the toss and inserted Sussex, on a pitch with a green tinge. 18-year-old wicket keeper Alex Horton was making his debut in the Glamorgan first team. Michael Hogan was still unavailable due to COVID so James Weighell came into the side. For Sussex, Rashid Khan was making his second appearance of the campaign, having walked off his plane and almost straight onto the field on Friday night.
Glamorgan reverted to their more customary policy of using spin up front and it brought immediate success as Mohammad Rizwan holed out, sweeping Prem Sisodiya’s second ball. Michael Neser then bowled Ali Orr in the next over and Sussex were 16 for two after four overs. A couple of loose overs from the change bowling allowed Luke Wright and Tom Alsop to wrest back the advantage and they took Sussex to 79 for two half way through the tenth over.
An excellent catch from Neser on the boundary brought an end to Wright’s innings and from then on the Glamorgan bowlers were able to restrict the Sussex batters. Delray Rawlins gave the score a late boost, taking 21 runs from the 19th over, but the final total of 149 for 8 looked under par. The main contributors were Wright with 46, Alsop 34 and Rawlins with 27 off just 16 balls at the end. Sisodiya was excellent with one for 12 from his four overs, while the ever reliable Neser took three for 24.
In reply, Glamorgan’s innings got off to a slow start, losing David Lloyd in the second over. When Tymal Mills bowled the first ball Colin Ingram received, a straightforward slip chance was shelled, and that proved decisive as Ingram and Sam Northeast added 86 for the second wicket.
Northeast was dismissed for 35 in the 13th over, leaving just 54 runs to be scored from the remaining 44 balls. Ingram looked in control and moved to his half century in the 15th over, off just 38 balls. He had been joined by Kiran Carlson, who made 15 from 14 balls, but when he was caught off the bowling of Mills, a mini collapse ensued as Eddie Byrom lapped the next ball into third man’s hands. That brought Dan Douthwaite to the crease, who swatted his third ball from Mills straight back over the bowlers head for a maximum.
The next over, bowled by the wily Bopara, brought two further wickets, as firstly Ingram (57) was caught on the long-on boundary by Khan, who managed to flick the ball back into play and debutant Horton was caught behind for a duck. Four wickets had fallen for just eight runs, but the target was still just 18 runs from 12 balls and Douthwaite and the new batter, James Weighell finished the game in the next over. Bopara and Mills were the pick of the Sussex bowlers finishing with two for 15 and three for 30 respectively.
Ingram’s half century was just the fourth by a Glamorgan batter so far in this year’s competition and they will be keen to improve on that number if they are to get enough points from their remaining four games to push for a quarter final spot. Currently they sit sixth in the table, two points behind Gloucestershire and Hampshire. Their next game is on Tuesday against Middlesex, who also have eight points.
Sussex meanwhile sit in eighth spot and they will need to win all four of their remaining games to have a chance of qualifying. Their next match is against Surrey on Thursday.
