County Championship: Honours even for Sussex and Glamorgan after rain spoils day three

Sussex's Ali Orr will resume the final day at Hove on 54 not out

Sussex and Glamorgan are set for an intriguing final-day finish at Hove, despite losing most of day three to bad weather.

The hosts will resume their second innings on 111-4, leading Glamorgan by 122 runs.

Opener Ali Orr (54 not out) anchored their second innings after a difficult start saw them slip to 19-3.

Play did not start until 16:00 BST because of heavy overnight rain and further showers.

Glamorgan added 10 runs for their last first-innings wicket, with Andrew Salter hitting a couple of boundaries before Michael Hogan was bowled charging at Jack Carson, who finished with 3-39.

Timm van der Gugten and Hogan again bowled superbly with the new ball to leave Sussex in early trouble.

But debutant Oli Carter (22) and Orr, playing only his second game, steadied the ship with a stand of 43 before Carter chipped a return catch to spinner Andrew Salter, giving the home side's slow bowlers hope of a productive final day.

Orr and captain Ben Brown (25 not out) added a further 49 in the evening sunshine to give Sussex a little momentum, although both survived drops, difficult chances off Dan Douthwaite.

Glamorgan's Australia batsman Marnus Labuschagne, who was unavailable for the Championship match because of Covid isolation, hit a record second XI score of 278 against Northamptonshire at Newport.

Sussex opener Ali Orr told BBC Radio Sussex:

"The ball was doing a bit early on and I struggled in the first innings, the opening bowlers bowled really well, but the difference was that I tried to attack a bit more and played a few more shots which took the pressure off a bit.

"Carts (Oli Carter) is a very good player. We've played quite a lot of cricket together so it was nice to have a friendly face out there, we relaxed a bit and took it in 15-minute blocks.

"I went to prep school with him until year eight and we played club cricket together for five years at Eastbourne.

"We'll build on our lead and see how it goes,. If we bat well hopefully we can put them under pressure and try to bowl them out."

Glamorgan assistant coach David Harrison told BBC Sport Wales:

"Michael Hogan and Timm van der Gugten have been outstanding in both innings with the new ball. They've done it for years.

"It's all to play for going into the final day. All results are possible, but we'll need to bowl well in the first session and try to keep the runs down, pick up a couple of wickets and we'll have a chance.

"We had two half-chances. It would have been nice if they'd stuck off Ben Brown and Ali Orr, who played really well.

"After losing time to rain it's probably a day-three pitch. We'll have to bowl well but we're confident of chasing down a score."