Glamorgan return to action in the Specsavers County Championship as they travel to Hove to meet Sussex in a day-night encounter scheduled to start at 2pm on Sunday, July 22nd.
The Welsh county take a break from white, and red, ball cricket, as they play with pink balls – as in the floodlit Championship match against Derbyshire at Cardiff last summer.
Glamorgan’s most recent visit to Hove for a Championship match came in 2016 for what proved to be a high-scoring encounter with Ed Joyce, Luke Wells and Ben Brown all scoring centuries, before a fine hundred by David Lloyd saw Glamorgan secure a draw. Their previous visit in August 2010 saw the game decimated by inclement weather, with torrential rain completely washing out the first day, and delaying the start on the second day.
When play got underway, Mark Cosgrove struck a high-class century, full of rasping blows and drives, plus a series of deft glides behind square on the off-side. Incisive bowling spells by Huw Waters and James Harris then dented Sussex’s aspirations of a sizeable lead, before Tom Maynard struck a 69-ball fifty as Sussex were left with a target of 261 in 45 overs. But this became academic as Waters claimed two wickets in his opening salvo, and at 5pm, the captains shook hands as the match ended in a draw.
Sussex had been victorious on the previous four occasions when the Welsh county have played a Championship match at the south coast ground. They won in 1996, 1998 and in 2000 whilst the contest in September 2005 witnessed a ten-wicket haul from Mushtaq Ahmed, as the home side completed a nine-wicket victory as the match was completed inside two days.
Although Glamorgan’s most recent Championship success against Sussex was in 2000 at Colwyn Bay, you have to go back to July 1975 for Glamorgan’s last Championship success in Sussex. In that match forty-three years ago at Hove, Roger Davis scored a fine hundred in Glamorgan’s first innings, before John Solanky and Tony Cordle took four and three wickets respectively to bowl Glamorgan to a 96-run victory.