Glamorgan claimed their first win of the 2024 Vitality Blast with a 25-run victory over Sussex in Cardiff, with Sam Northeast’s 61 not out enough to set up a winning target.
Four wickets for Tymal Mills helped to restrict Glamorgan to 183 for seven from their 20 overs but a solid Glamorgan bowling display, and a much improved effort in the field from their first match in this competition against Surrey, saw them defend the target.
James Coles top scored for Sussex with a career best 69 not out but he had little support from the rest of the Sussex batting line up.
The star with the ball for Glamorgan was Mason Crane who finished with figures of two for 22 from his four overs as Sussex finished on 158 for six.
Regular wickets throughout the Glamorgan innings meant they had to fight throughout to keep the scoring going, but significant contributions throughout the order allowed them to post a competitive total. The home side’s PowerPlay brought 56 runs for the loss of two wickets with Chris Cooke and Sam Northeast going well.
Cooke was given a life on 21 when Dan Hughes slipped while attempting to take what should have been a straightforward catch off the bowling of Danny Lamb. Just as it looked as if Glamorgan would take full advantage of this mistake, Cooke was dimissed by Mills.
A solid stand of 68 between Northeast and Colin Ingram seemed to be setting a platform for them to attack the Sussex bowling in the death overs. Two wickets in two balls from Mills pegged them back once again. The first was Ingram who was bowled off an inside edge, then Marnus Labuschagne was bowled next ball by a that beat him for pace.
Mills claimed his fourth wicket when he had Dan Douthwaite dismissed for 11 when he gave a catch to Oli Carter and long on to give him his second four wicket haul of the competition so far.
Northeast was there at the end, hitting the last ball of the innings for six to set Sussex a target of 184.
Sussex started brightly thanks to an expensive over from Tom Bevan but two Sussex wickets inside the PowerPlay slowed them a little.
A steady stand of 42 between Carter and James Coles kept them in the contest. Carter was dismissed for 33 when he was caught by Eddie Byrom off the bowling of Ingram, but Glamorgan felt they had dismissed him in the previous over but a low catch from Tom Bevan was adjudicated to have not been taken cleanly by the umpires.
As had been the case throughout the Glamorgan innings, regular wickets meant that there was always the need for an element of rebuilding and three quick wickets saw Sussex go from 73 for two to 85 for five.
Just at the point where Sussex needed to accelerate Crane put the brakes on thanks to his excellent spell that did not concede a single boundary.
The second of Crane’s wickets came from a fantastic boundary catch from Labuschagne that saw him toss the ball back into play to claim the wicket of John Simpson.
Coles batted intelligently for his first fifty in T20 cricket, but with no support around him the required rate kept climbing. By the start of the 18th over Sussex needed 65 runs from the final 18 balls, a task that was too much for them as Glamorgan secured their first win of the season.
Sussex were “pretty disappointing in all three facets of the game”, Mills said, adding: “Glamorgan out-bowled, out-fielded and out-batted us.
“I think we were off it compared to the other night when our fielding was very good. Our bowling was as good as it could have been in the conditions at Hove.
“We walked off chasing 183. The stats suggest that is still a chaseable total although it is still a bat first ground traditionally.
“We were confident in chasing it down and then we didn’t quite have the impetus. I don’t think we played the spin particularly well.”
It was a “frustrating one”, Mills said, “but early days in the competition.”
