Glamorgan defeated Sussex Sharks by an astonishing one-wicket margin at the Gnoll in Neath, maintaining their flawless record in this year’s Metro Bank One Cup.
Archie Lenham and Bertie Foreman put on an outstanding eighth-wicket stand that helped Sussex reach 200 all out. The two young players also displayed great skill with the ball as Sussex came dangerously close to winning.
Although Sussex had regained momentum due to a top-order collapse, Glamorgan had gotten off to a promising start. With his 51, Eddie Byrom scored the highest total in the game, while Billy Root, batting with the tail, made 48. However, they were defeated by Andy Gorvin and Jamie McIlroy, who shared the final wicket.
After losing by one wicket for the second time this season, Sussex is still without a win in this year’s tournament, while Glamorgan is currently leading Group B with four victories from four matches.
Similar to their encounter with Notts Outlaws on Wednesday, Glamorgan won the toss and elected to bowl. Once more, the Glamorgan seamers dominated the game from the outset. Sussex’s first runs came after 23 balls, when Timm van der Gugten and McIlroy showed noticeable movement with the new ball.
With 11 maidens in his 37 overs thus far in this competition, Van der Gugten has been incredibly frugal. The first breakthrough came when he caught Tom Clark off guard for a 14. Tom Haines and Henry Rogers combined for the highest stand of the Sussex innings, putting on 59 runs, at that wicket.
Dan Douthwaite’s bowling caused Haines to fall for 44, starting a collapse that cost Sussex five wickets at a cost of fifteen runs. With seven wickets for Sussex between them, Douthwaite and van der Gugten were the main wreckers. The second-best return in Douthwaite’s List A career was 4 for 44.
Sussex had crumbled to 130 for 7 when Daniel Ibrahim was caught at slip off a ball from Ben Kellaway, which the ambidextrous spinner sent down with his left arm.
Lenham and Foreman’s 51-run partnership gave the score some respectability, but another round of wickets saw Sussex knocked out for 200.
The Glamorgan innings got off to a great start, scoring 65 runs off of 10 overs as they steadily advanced towards their goal. Byrom, who on Wednesday achieved a career-high 123 not out on this pitch, quickly passed 50 from just 41 balls in an attempt to exploit a nascent Sussex attack.
With drizzle in the air, it appeared as though Glamorgan would win easily and would finish well ahead of the DLS score.
Just like in the Sussex innings, a quick burst of wickets turned the tide. The game got really intriguing when Ibrahim bowled Tom Bevan and Kiran Carlson off consecutive deliveries, causing Glamorgan to lose five wickets for 42 runs.
In the face of some superb spin bowling from Lenham and Foreman, Billy Root assumed the role of keeper for Glamorgan. Together, the two bowled for sixty runs in twenty overs, taking four wickets, and applying constant pressure on Glamorgan’s batting.
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The match was tight after Root was out for 48, and Glamorgan managed to push over the opposition only with a nervous last-wicket stand between McIlroy and Gorvin.