Sussex slip to T20 Blast defeat in Wales

Sussex suffered a four-wicket defeat in Cardiff against Glamorgan in the latest match of the Vitality Blast.

Wickets for the ever-reliable Michael Neser and runs from Colin Ingram and Sam Northeast set up the Glamorgan victory that keeps their knockout hopes alive.

Sussex batted first and a stop-start innings saw them set Glamorgan a target of 150 to win with Luke Wright top scoring with 46.

A big partnership between Ingram and Northeast was the foundation on which the successful chase was built, with the former the major contributor with 57 from 43 deliveries.

Late wickets, including those of Ingram and Northeast, brought Sussex back into the contest at the death but the big-hitting Dan Douthwaite saw the hosts home with an over to spare.

Having put Sussex into bat, Glamorgan – who had won just two of their opening nine Blast matches – restricted the visitors to 38 for two from the powerplay.

The first wicket to fall was that of Mohammad Rizwan who was caught on the mid-wicket boundary after his attempted slog-sweep off the bowling of Prem Sisodiya found James Weighell fielding on the ropes.

Ali Orr was the second Sussex batter to be dismissed, bowled by a ball from Neser that crashed into the left-hander’s off stump.

Luke Wright and Tom Alsop righted the ship as they put on 67 for the third wicket in decent time.

Eddie Byrom put down a simple chance to dismiss Alsop off the bowling of Sisodya but Glamorgan did claim the wicket of the dangerous Wright when he was well taken on the long-on boundary by Neser off Douthwaite.

Wright’s departure saw the Sussex scoring rate slow and wickets began to tumble.

Ravi Bopara could not get going, dismissed for two from seven balls by Neser and Alsop holed out on the boundary for 34 from 28 balls off Andrew Salter.

When Harrison Ward was stumped by Alex Horton, the 18-year-old wicket-keeper’s maiden victim in the Glamorgan first team, Sussex were 108 for six with 4.3 overs left.

Rashid Khan, playing in first game for Sussex this season, is capable of big hitting but he too struggled to get going, bowled by Weighell for a run-a-ball eight.

It was Delray Rawlins who gave the Sussex innings respectability as he took the attack to the Glamorgan bowlers, hitting two sixes on his way to 27 from 16 balls.

Unfortunately for Sussex, Rawlins was not there at the end, trapped lbw by Neser (three for 24) to the first ball of the 20th over with Sussex finishing on 149 for eight.

Glamorgan got off to a decent start despite the early loss of David Lloyd who slapped a ball from Steven Finn into the hands of Khan in the covers for just eight from 10 balls.

From there a stand of 86 between Ingram and Glamorgan’s leading run scorer in the Blast, Northeast, broke the back of the chase.

It was the wicket of Northeast that ended the partnership when he was caught by Henry Crocombe off the bowling of Tymal Mills for 35.

Ingram had struggled to get going in his previous two innings in the Blast but on the back of a match-winning 178 in Glamorgan’s County Championship match against this same opposition last week he has found some form and he reached his fifty from 39 balls.

Glamorgan were cruising towards victory before four wickets in the space of two overs gave Sussex real hope, but Douthwaite’s 18 from 10 balls saw the host home with time to spare.