Despite a flurry of early morning wickets pegging them back, Glamorgan have finished the third day of the LV= Insurance County Championship match against Sussex with a chance to push for victory.
The day started with Eddie Byrom and Colin Ingram taking their outstanding partnership past 300 before four quick wickets before lunch brought Sussex back into the contest.
Glamorgan’s lower order took their score to 494, a first innings lead of 118, with Eddie Byrom making a career-best 176 and Colin Ingram dismissed for 178.
The loss of two early wickets, with Ingram picking up a third from the last ball of the day, has left Sussex with work to do to save this game. They are 29 runs behind Glamorgan going into the final day.
Having resumed with their partnership on 253, Colin Ingram and Eddie Byrom took their stand to 328, the highest ever for the second wicket for Glamorgan. It was well past the 291 put on by Nick Selman and Marnus Labuschagne against the same opposition in 2019.
It was a pretty miserable first 90 minutes of the day for Sussex. Wicket-keeper Tim Seifert dropped a simple chance to dismiss Byrom for 126. 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 – and Henry Crocombe was the bowler to make the breakthrough. Ingram’s attempted pull shot was caught at mid-wicket by Tom Alsop.
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 also Crocombe who nabbed the fourth Glamorgan wicket, with Carlson given out caught behind. The bowler went on to claim a career best four for 84 in the Glamorgan first innings.
When Sean Hunt trapped Billy Root lbw for 5 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.
But some excellent lower order contributions gave them a lead of 118 – one that could be telling at the end of this game.
Byrom was dismissed just 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 sustained on the first day.
The evening session saw the Sussex batters try 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, Tom 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.
A draw is still the favourite result, but a Glamorgan victory is the close second.
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Sussex bowler Henry Crocombe said: “The pitch has definitely flattened out since the first day – as you can tell by the way Glamorgan batted.
“The team are fairly confident in themselves of being able to bat out their bowlers and get through the day tomorrow. I am fairly confident in everyone, and I think they will be fine.
“There was some spin to the left handers out of the rough patches. Aside from that I don’t think there is too much.
“We had the short ball plan, pack the leg side and that came off and then the next ball I tried to bowl as quick and straight as I could. I didn’t actually mean to bowl a yorker but it ended up being the perfect yorker and it came off.”
Glamorgan batsman Eddie Byrom said: “I think that partnership with Colin Ingram was pretty special – a record-breaking partnership. Very pleased to be involved in that. I had my dad here yesterday to watch – a very special day.
“There is not an awful lot there in the pitch. There is some spin there on offer and the odd one is keeping low, so the surface is probably breaking up a little bit. So hopefully we can stick to our guns tomorrow and be able to chase not too high a score.”
