Sussex close in on promotion with innings win over Glamorgan

Sussex 491 (Simpson 117, Clark 112*, Kellaway 5-142) beat Glamorgan 186 (Carlson 56, Unadkat 4-52) and 218 (Ingram 71, Carlson 66, Robinson 3-38, Crocombe 3-44, Carson 3-67) by an innings and 87 runs runs

Sussex are closing in on a return to Division One of the Vitality County Championship after wrapping up their seventh win of the season with a day to spare against Glamorgan.

Having established a first-innings lead of 305 they bowled Glamorgan out for 218 to win by an innings and 87 runs at Hove.

The second division’s leading run-scorer Colin Ingram and Kiran Carlson scored half-centuries but Sussex’s relentless attack kept chipping away. There were three wickets each for Ollie Robinson, Henry Crocombe and off-spinner Jack Carson, the second division’s leading wicket-taker who took his tally to 45.

Glamorgan had batted again after finally dismissing Sussex for 491 and Jaydev Unadkat made the breakthrough in his first over, Asa Tribe collecting a pair when he under-edged the Indian left-armer.

Carson bowled just three overs after lunch before going off for treatment to a bad back and in his absence Robinson stepped up to bowl an excellent nine-over spell during which he had Ingram dropped at slip by Tom Alsop on 36.

But it was Crocombe who struck in his third over when Billy Root, promoted to opener, played on and lost middle and off stumps.

Ingram took his aggregate for the season to 1170 runs at an average of 97.5 and had moved onto 71 when Carson produced a fine delivery which turned and Ingram, aiming to drive down the ground, got a leading to cover.

Glamorgan skipper Sam Northeast, coming in at No. 6 after spending time off the field with an elbow problem, became Crocombe’s second victim when he took on a well-directed short ball and picked out James Coles who didn’t have to move to take the catch at deep backward square.

Carlson and Kellaway added 57 but Sussex were revived after a brief stoppage for rain. In the second over after the resumption Kellaway missed a reverse sweep and Carson struck again in his next over when Carlson, who had lodged his eighth fifty of the season, was caught at short leg propping forward to a ball which turned sharply.

Carson bowled 16 overs in tandem with slow left-armer James Coles to get Sussex’s over-rate back down and, having done so, Robinson was summoned to sweep away the rest of Glamorgan’s resistance, pinning Chris Cooke with his second ball back and bowling James Harris and Andy Gorvin in the space of 17 balls before Crocombe wrapped things up when he plucked out Dan Douthwaite’s middle stump.

Earlier, Tom Clark completed his third first-class hundred and first since May 2022 before Sussex were bowled out 40 minutes before lunch for 491.

Clark and skipper John Simpson extended their sixth-wicket stand to 213 when Simpson, who’d added five runs to his overnight 112, missed a sweep at off-spinner Kellaway looking to accelerate the scoring rate.

A sweep off Kellaway for his 11th boundary took Clark to a 220-ball hundred made in four-and-a-half hours and he finished unbeaten on 112 while Kellaway completed a maiden five-for in only his fourth first-class match when Robinson missed a paddle sweep.