Glamorgan got back to winning ways in the Vitality Blast with a four-wicket victory over Sussex in Cardiff.
Wickets for the ever-reliable Michael Neser and runs from Sam Northeast and Colin Ingram set up the Glamorgan win that keeps their knockout hopes alive.
Sussex batted first and a stop-start innings saw them set Glamorgan a target of 150 to win with Luke Wright top scoring with 46.
A big partnership between Ingram and Northeast was the foundation on which the successful chase was built, with Ingram the major contributor with 57 from 43 deliveries.
Late wickets, including those of Ingram and Northeast, brought Sussex back into the contest at the death but the big hitting Dan Douthwaite saw Glamorgan home with an over to spare.
Having put Sussex into bat, Glamorgan restricted the visitors to 38 for two from the PowerPlay. The first wicket to fall was that of Mohammad Rizwan who was caught on the mid-wicket boundary after his attempted slog-sweep off the bowling of Prem Sisodiya found James Weighell fielding on the ropes.
Ali Orr was the second Sussex batter to be dismissed, bowled by a ball from Neser that moved passed the left-hander to crash into his off stump.
Luke Wright and Tom Alsop righted the ship as they put on 67 for the third wicket in decent time. Byrom put down a simple chance to dismiss Alsop off the bowling of Sisodya.
But Glamorgan did claim the wicket of the dangerous Wright when he was well taken on the long-on boundary by Neser to give Douthwaite his first wicket.
Wright’s departure saw the Sussex scoring rate slow and wickets began to tumble. Ravi Bopara couldn’t get going, dismissed for 2 from seven balls by Neser and Tom Alsop holed out on the boundary for 34 from 28 balls off Andrew Salter.
When Harrison Ward was stumped by Alex Horton, the 18-year-old wicket-keeper’s maiden victim in the Glamorgan first team, Sussex were 108 for six with 4.3 overs left.
Rashid Khan, playing in first game for Sussex this season, is capable of big hitting but he too struggled to get going, bowled by Weighell for a run a ball 8.
It was Delray Rawlins who gave the Sussex innings respectability as he took the attack to the Glamorgan bowlers, hitting two sixes on his way to 27 from 16 balls.
Unfortunately for Sussex, Rawlins wasn’t there at the end, trapped lbw by Neser to the first ball of the 20th over with Sussex finishing on 149 for eight.
Glamorgan got off to a decent start despite the early loss of David Lloyd. He slapped a ball from Steven Finn into the hands of Rashid Khan in the covers for just 8 from 10 balls.
From there a stand of 86 between Ingram and Northeast, Glamorgan’s leading run scorer in the Blast, broke the back of the chase.
It was the wicket of Northeast that ended the partnership when he was caught by Henry Crocombe off the bowling of Tymal Mills for 35 off 32.
Ingram had struggled to get going in his previous two innings in the Blast but on the back of a match-winning 178 in Glamorgan’s County Championship match against this same opposition last week he has found some form as he reached his fifty from 39 balls.
Glamorgan were cruising to victory before four wickets in the space of two overs gave Sussex real hope – but then Douthwaite’s 18 from 10 balls saw Glamorgan home with time to spare.
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Sussex coach James Kirtley said: “I think that is us pretty much done in our ability to qualify for the quarter-finals and that is massively disappointing.
“You can look back on these last three games and the difference that 12 runs would have made in each of them is significant. That is the bit we have got to figure out – how we get beyond those moments.
“We’ve got four games to go. There will be opportunities for one or two to play – but we will reflect. But it will be ultimately bitterly disappointing.
High-scoring Colin Ingramsaid: “Firstly, just great to get a win. A lot of confidence after our four-day game during the week. I always feel like 150 can be tricky total.
“Somewhere along the line you have to put your foot down, its close and you just want to get there. I thought it was a good all-round team performance and really glad to get a result.
“I spent a lot of time in the middle recently and I definitely benefited from that. They’ve got a very useful attack with Rashid Khan and Mills bowled some really quick balls this afternoon. It was nice to spend some time there and make some good decisions.”
