Despite a belligerent 62 from 47 balls by Chris Cooke, Glamorgan lost to the Sussex Sharks by 59 runs under the DLS Method at Hove in their rain affected contest in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
The Welsh county made two changes to their line-up from the team beaten by Surrey in a rain-affected contest on Sunday at Cardiff with Will Bragg replacing Aneurin Donald, whilst Owen Morgan came into the team – for a game being played on a used wicket – in place of Lukas Carey. It was therefore Hogan who shared the new ball with de Lange with Luke Wright striking boundaries against each bowler in their first over.
Chris Nash added boundaries himself as he square-cut de Lange before edging Hogan just wide of slip, but Wright was less fortunate as he was caught by Bragg in Hogan’s third over with 30 runs on the board. De Lange then induced an outside edge from the bat of Harry Finch before failing to grasp a sharp return chance. Nash greeted the introduction of Craig Meschede into the attack by scooping him to mid-wicket as the fifty came up in the 11th over, whilst Finch cut David Lloyd for four in his first over.
After a flurry of singles, Nash scooped Meschede to fine-leg for four but next ball he perished trying to repeat the stroke as Colin Ingram completed a catch on the square-leg boundary. 69/2 saw Stiaan Van Zyl join Finch and the left-hander began with a square-cut and a flowing off-drive for a pair of fours against Meschede. Glamorgan then switched to an all-spin attack as Morgan joined forces with Andrew Salter. Finch responded by on-driving Morgan for four with Ingram’s leg-spin then replacing the left-armer before Lloyd had a second spell at the Sea End.
The change did the trick as with the total on 120, Lloyd bowled Finch for 39. Ben Brown began with a trio of singles before clipping Lloyd for fours to fine-leg and square-leg. Van Zyl then ended his sequence of one’s and two’s by drilling Ingram through the covers for four and straight driving Hogan to the boards en route to a 54-ball fifty. Brown also cover drove Hogan for four before van Zyl lofted Hogan for six over long-off.
Brown then had a moment of good fortune as he top-edged a pull just over Chris Cooke’s gloves when de Lange returned at the end of the second powerplay with the home side on 196/3. Brown unfurled a lofted off-drive against Lloyd before van Zyl clipped the all-rounder to fine-leg. The South African then lofted Meschede over extra cover to bring up the century stand before brown cut de Lange for four to complete his fifty from 49 balls.
Brown celebrated by upper cutting de Lange for six but the fast bowler then yorked the batsman as .Sussex lost their fourth wicket on 235. Next ball, Laurie Evans chopped de Lange onto his stumps but van Zyl responded by lofting Lloyd for six and four into the leg-side before David Wiese lofted Hogan for sixes over long-off and long-on. Van Zyl then skied de Lange in the penultimate over to mid-wicket where Rudolph took a good running catch. Wiese added another six over mid-wicket against Hogan in the final over as Sussex ended on 292/6 with 96 runs having come in the final ten overs.
Lloyd launched the Glamorgan reply by cover-driving Jerome Taylor for four before Rudolph followed suit next over, but Jofra Archer made an early incision as with his seventh delivery he trapped Lloyd l.b.w. Rudolph twice cover drove Taylor for further fours but Will Bragg then departed for a duck as he was run out by George Garton attempting a single to mid-off. With his side on 18/2 Rudolph was joined by Ingram, with the Glamorgan captain straight-driving Archer for four before his new partner drilled Taylor for another pair of fours through the offside, followed by a cover driven three against Archer. He then greeted Wiese by cover-driving him for four but two balls later miscued a pull against the all-rounder and was caught by Wright running in from mid-on.
47/3 saw Kiran Carlson join Rudolph and after a brace of singles he steered Wiese through point for four, with the Glamorgan captain also keeping the scoreboard ticking over with a dozen well-place singles before greeting the return of Taylor by drilling him through mid-off for four. Danny Briggs then entered the fray and was carefully worked around by the pair as the hundred came up in the 23rd over before Carlson despatched him over long-on for six. The teenager then launched van Zyl over mid-off for four before later in the over he was run out by Briggs as he attempted a quick single to backward point.
119/4 saw Chris Cooke join his captain who completed his 78-ball fifty as the floodlights came on at an overcast Hove. But with the total on 129 Rudolph chipped Briggs into Wright’s hands at short mid-wicket, before nine runs later Morgan was bowled as he advanced down the wicket to the spinner. Without further addition, rain started to fall as the players left the field with Glamorgan 72 runs behind the DLS par score. Seven overs were lost and arevised target of 281 was calculated, leaving Glamorgan to score 143 from 11.5 overs.
The seventh wicket pair garnered three runs from the opening over before Cooke swept Briggs for four followed by a following cover drive and rasping cut for a pair of fours when Wiese returned at the Sea End. Cooke then flat-batted Briggs for a pair of sixes over mid-wicket but later in the over Meschede holed out at long-on. 178/7 saw Andrew Salter join Cooke with 102 needed from the last eight overs.
Jerome Taylor then returned and yielded just one boundary as Salter reverse swept the West Indian but next ball he top-edged a pull and Archer completed a good running catch at fine-leg. With de Lange as his new partner, Cooke completed his fifty in the grand matter as he straight drove Garton – his 40th delivery - for six as the equation became 80 from 36 balls. In an attempt to bludgeon another six Cooke perished on the long-on boundary as Evans completed the catch. De Lange off-drove Taylor for four but after a series of singles Archer returned and bowled De Lange as Sussex won by 59 runs under the DLS Method.