Glamorgan finish day three with hopes of victory over Sussex

Two early wickets, and Ingram picking up a third from the last ball of the day, left Sussex with work to do to save the game as they were still 29 runs behind going into the final day.

Having resumed with their partnership on 253, Ingram and Byrom took their stand to 328, the highest-ever stand for the second wicket for Glamorgan, going past the 291 put on by Nick Selman and Marnus Labuschagne against the same opposition in 2019.

Miserable

It was a pretty miserable first 90 minutes of the day for Sussex, with wicketkeeper Tim Seifert dropping a simple chance to dismiss Byrom for 126 being the lowlight, but the cluster of wickets before the lunch interval brought them back into the game.

It was Ingram’s wicket which ended the partnership with Byrom, Henry Crocombe the bowler to make the breakthrough. Ingram’s attempted pull shot was caught at mid-wicket with Tom Alsop the fielder.

Having waited so long for a second wicket, Sussex had Glamorgan five down in quick time.

Sam Northeast was bowled first ball with a lovely yorker as two wickets fell in as many balls.

It was Crocombe who also got the fourth Glamorgan wicket with Kiran Carlson given out caught behind.

Crocombe would go on to claim a career-best four for 84 in Glamorgan’s first innings.

When Sean Hunt trapped Billy Root lbw for five, Glamorgan had lost four wickets in the space of 17 runs and were still 28 runs behind the Sussex innings.

The sixth Glamorgan wicket fell with Sussex still four runs in front, Hunt bowling James Weighell for 16 and the home side were in danger of squandering the fantastic position they found themselves in overnight.

Some excellent lower-order contributions took them to a lead of 118 – one that could be telling at the end of this game.

Byrom was dismissed shortly after Glamorgan had claimed maximum batting points, but Michael Neser and Andrew Salter hung around with Chris Cooke, who was batting at 10 with a runner due to the calf injury he sustained on the first day.

The evening session saw the Sussex batters attempting to erase the first-innings deficit on a pitch that had the odd ball keeping low.

Sussex lost both openers early on to add more pressure, with Alsop and Tom Haines both falling with the score on 29.

First-innings centurion Oli Carter was at the crease at the close but Tom Clark failed to keep out a ball from Ingram that trickled into his stumps to have him bowled for 34 by the last ball of the day.

The draw is still the favourite result, but a Glamorgan victory is a close second.