Relentless Sussex beat Glamorgan to close in on County Championship second division crown

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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.

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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.

Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace said: "That's back-to-back innings win at Hove so I'm delighted - over the course of the three days we played a lot of really good cricket. We had to show resilience and a high level of skill at times but we did that.

Henry Crocombe celebrates with Jack Carson after bowling Colin Ingram of Glamorgan during the Vitality County Championship Division 2 match between Sussex and Glamorgan at Hove (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)Henry Crocombe celebrates with Jack Carson after bowling Colin Ingram of Glamorgan during the Vitality County Championship Division 2 match between Sussex and Glamorgan at Hove (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Henry Crocombe celebrates with Jack Carson after bowling Colin Ingram of Glamorgan during the Vitality County Championship Division 2 match between Sussex and Glamorgan at Hove (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

"We're all delighted that Tom Clark got his hundred today; he's had to work hard this season but we feel he's got a very high ceiling as a player. Our bowling throughout has been very good too. Jack Carson is getting better with each game. Not only is he a wicket-taking threat but his control has been exceptional. And along with his keeping and captaincy, I can't think of too many batters who have had a better season in county cricket than John Simpson.

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"I was a bit worried going into this game as Glamorgan had the wood over us this season and gave us a proper beating in the Championship game in Cardiff so to play as well as we did was really exciting.

"Promotion is close but it's not done. Middlesex and Yorkshire are making it tough but our goal at the start of the season was to go into September with a chance of winning the title. We're looking forward to the challenge of the last two games but there's a lot of work still to go."

Glamorgan had batted again 305 behind 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.

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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 owner, 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.

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Glamorgan skipper Sam Northeast, coming in at No6 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.

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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.

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