A disciplined bowling performance by Glamorgan with Graham Wagg taking three wickets for no runs in five balls saw Sussex nosedive from 232/2 to 283 on the second day of their Specsavers County Championship match at an overcast SSE SWALEC with the visitors securing a first innings lead of 31 runs. By the close, Glamorgan were 50/1 in their second innings.
Close of Play Report
Play resumed at 3.55pm after the brief stoppage for an early tea, with Ben Brown shouldering arms to Wagg to deprive the all-rounder of a hat-trick. Michael Hogan resumed at the Cathedral Road End as a single by Nash saw Sussex reach the 250-mark but with the scores level Hogan found the edge of Brown’s bat and Mark Wallace completed the regulation catch.
Jofra Archer then steered his first ball to third man to take Sussex into the lead but Timm van der Gugten returned to the attack and ended Nash’s six and a half hour stay at the crease as he bowled him for 132. 258/8 then became 261/9 as Archer edged the Dutchman to Nick Selman at third slip. Wagg then switched to the Cathedral Road End and was swatted to fine-leg for six by Steve Magoffin who then edged the next delivery through the slips for four. The Australian added another boundary in Wagg’s next over as he carved him through the covers for four but van der Gugten yorked him to end Sussex’s innings on 283.
There were 19 overs remaining when Glamorgan began their second innings with Nick Selman ending his sequence of noughts by firmly on-driving Archer for three before Jacques Rudolph clipped the young West Indian to square-leg for four. But with the total on 10, Magoffin trapped Selman l.b.w. as Will Bragg joined his captain who twice dispatched Archer through the covers for further boundaries.
Rudolph then greeted the introduction of David Wiese into the attack by punching him through the covers for four as Glamorgan went into the lead. Bragg also drilled Wiese through the covers for four as the pair saw Glamorgan through to the close and to set up the prospect of another enthralling day’s play tomorrow.
Teatime Update
The morning session had seen Sussex accrue just 69 runs, with night-watchman Danny Briggs being run out in the final over before lunch . As a result, it was Luke Wells who joined Chris Nash when play resumed after the interval with the opener just five runs away from his century. Graham Wagg also completed the over in his normal style before Hogan returned at the River End and was cut for four by Nash en route to completing his hundred from 204 balls.
The Glamorgan attack continued to keep the visiting batsmen in check as Wagg switched to his slower mode with the new ball just eight overs away. Nash also edged Hogan just short of first slip before Owen Morgan and David Lloyd had a short spell in tandem with Nash flicking the latter to mid-wicket to bring up the 200 and the first batting point for Sussex.
With the total on 212/2, Glamorgan took the new ball in the 81st over as Craig Meschede and Timm van der Gugten returned to the attack. Luke Wells elegantly cover-drove the latter as Sussex hinted at acceleration, but with the total on 232, Meschede bowled Wells as Glamorgan secured a deserved bowling point. Christian Davis, who scored a double-century last month against Glamorgan 2nd XI at Abergavenny, then joined Nash before Meschede shortly afterwards left the field with what appeared to be a side strain.
His departure saw Hogan return to the attack, but it was Wagg who claimed the fourth wicket with the visitors still in arrears by nine runs as Christian Davis edged into Wallace’s gloves. Two balls later the same combination accounted for Luke Wright before next ball Wiese lost his leg stump as wagg celebrated his 200th victim for the Welsh county. With a bank of heavy cloud over the ground, the players then left the field for an early tea with Wagg on a hat-trick.
Lunchtime Report
Sussex enjoyed, by far, the better of the action on the opening day of this contest, in stark contrast to the match at Colwyn Bay in 2000 when they also invited Glamorgan to bat first and then saw he home side rattle up 457/1 by the close, with Steve James well on course for the Club's first-ever triple century. Sixteen years later, it was a very different proposition on a green-tinged surface as some high- class seam bowling and slip catching saw Glamorgan dismissed inside the first two sessions. Graham Wagg and Mark Wallace posted defiant fifties as the hue of the wicket changed under the warm Welsh sunshine but the excellent nature of the wicket - like others this year in Championship cricket at The SSE SWALEC - swiftly became apparent as Sussex's openers shared a largely untroubled century stand.
Ed Joyce departed shortly before the close, but Chris Nash, together with nigh-watchman Danny Briggs, resumed this morning knowing that Sussex could find themselves in a dominant position by the send of the second day’s play. From a Glamorgan perspective, there was a greater cloud cover this morning as Timm van der Gugten and Craig Meschede continued the bowling duties. Briggs struck the first runs of the day as he scythed Meschede through point, followed by a firmly-struck off-drive for another four.
Van der Gugten passed the outside edge of Nash’s bat on several occasions before Briggs clipped Meschede to mid-on for four before doing the same to van der Gugten. Michael Hogan and Graham Wagg then returned to the fray with Nash guiding the latter to third man. After a probing spell by Hogan, Meschede returned at the Cathedral Road End and was cover driven by Nash who continued to steadily accumulate, besides dispatching Wagg through extra cover for four.
Shortly before lunch, Owen Morgan returned to the attack and nearly caused Briggs to chop the ball onto his stumps, whilst Wagg also had a couple of overs in his slower style, and in the final over before lunch a smart piece of fielding by Aneurin Donald at cover ran out Briggs for 36..