Glamorgan see off Sussex despite Tom Alsop half century

Glamorgan made it four wins out of five in the Vitality Blast as they beat Sussex by 32 runs at the 1st Central County Ground.

The Sharks slumped to a third straight defeat, and a fourth in five games, and they now have a mountain to climb if they are to progress in the competition.

Having previously been let down by their batting, on this occasion it was their bowling which proved their undoing as, chasing a huge victory target of 220, they never looked in the contest, despite a plucky innings from Tom Alsop, who scored 58 from 41 deliveries.

Tom Clark, pulling across the line, was bowled by Jamie McIlroy in the third over and in the next fellow opener Tom Haines departed, unluckily run out through a deflected straight drive by Alsop.

Sussex needed something special from Ravi Bopara, but their skipper could not oblige, lifting a full toss from Kiran Carlson to long-on for just 10.

Two overs later Shadab Khan was caught at cow corner, just below the dressing rooms, for three.

The situation seemed hopeless, but Alsop did his best to lead a revival and, for a short period while he found a reliable partner in Michael Burgess, a fightback looked possible.

With 10 overs to go Sussex needed 148, from the last five, 90, at an improbable rate of 18 runs an over.

But then Alsop was yorked by Dan Douthwaite to make it 133 for five in the 16th over and any glimmer of hope was gone.

Some late hitting by Nathan McAndrew, who struck four sixes in an unbeaten 28, helped Sussex to 187 for eight.

Flat pitch

Glamorgan had earlier made the most of a flat pitch, a fast outfield and some wayward bowling and fielding from the Sharks to pile up 219 for five.

Colin Ingram, with 48 off 32 balls, and Chris Cooke, who hit 50 off 28, were the stars of the show.

There were 23 extras in the innings, including eight no-balls and nine wides.

Glamorgan got off to a flyer, scoring 71 for one in the powerplay. There were also two dropped catches in that opening passage of play to add to the fielding side’s frustrations, including a sitter by James Coles.

Glamorgan lost the dangerous-looking Eddie Byron early on, the batter injuring himself in the course of a 10-ball 17 and having to be helped off the field.

But captain Carlson maintained the impetus of the innings with two sixes and three fours in a 16-ball 26 before he skied Henry Crocombe to wicketkeeper Burgess.

Sam Northeast, quiet in the opening overs, picked up his pace and raised the hundred from the final delivery of the 10th over when he clouted Shadab over square-leg for six.

The Sharks dismissed Northeast at 106 in the 11th over when the batsman drove Crocombe to short extra-cover, where Bopara took an excellent low catch.

But, because of their poor start, Sussex had difficulty stemming the flow of runs as Ingram and Cooke kept the scoreboard racing along.

Shadab, bowling the 14th over, went for 18 runs, while the next, bowled by McAndrew, went for 19 as Cooke raised the 150 with a marvellous stroke, carving McAndrew over extra-cover for six.

Ingram fell in the 17th over, but by the time Cooke followed him with five balls remaining the damage was done.