County Championship: Glamorgan scramble five-wicket win over Sussex

Oli Carter's defiant 83 for Sussex had held up Glamorgan's victory bid

Glamorgan scrambled to a five-wicket victory over Sussex after making heavy weather of a target of 141 in 43 overs.

Kiran Carlson (45) and Sam Northeast (45 not out) saw the Welsh side home after they had crashed to 9-3.

It was Glamorgan's third Championship win in Division Two while Sussex remain without a win since their previous visit to Cardiff in April 2021.

Earlier Sussex were bowled out for 258 despite resistance again led by Oli Carter (83).

He and Delray Rawlins came together 30 minutes into the final day as Tim Seifert and Dan Ibrahim fell for five apiece with the youthful visitors still two runs in arrears.

Rawlins staged an early assault on Colin Ingram's leg-spin, while first-innings hero Carter took his time at the crease in the match to just short of 12 hours as the pair added a fairly untroubled 104.

Three wickets then fell in the space of five balls in a dramatic turn of events in mid-afternoon as Carter, on 83, bizarrely paddled an Ingram full-toss to short fine leg.

Seamer Andrew Gorvin, who had not been used in the first session, bowled Rawlins for 57 and had Henry Crocombe lbw for nought in a double-wicket maiden.

Archie Lenham resisted for 21 not out but Michael Neser (3-58) cleaned up the last two wickets with the new ball.

A simple-looking chase for Glamorgan started disastrously as Jack Brooks and Sean Hunt soon had first innings centurions Eddie Byrom and Colin Ingram back in the pavilion, along with captain David Lloyd, inside eight overs.

Carlson took a risky, adventurous approach to getting the innings moving, almost running himself out on 23, while the experienced Northeast played a steadying role at the other end.

They added 75 for the fourth wicket to break the back of the target, with Carlson eventually stumped charging at Lenham.

Billy Root (17) was caught down the leg side by Seifert off Brooks, the on-loan Somerset seamer who looked far sharper than in the first innings.

But it was too late for Sussex to pull off a miracle comeback as Chris Cooke (15 not out), batting with a runner after a calf injury which will keep him out of the next four T20 games, helped Northeast get Glamorgan over the line with 23 balls to spare.

Glamorgan's Sam Northeast told BBC Sport Wales:

"It probably should have been easy, especially after watching England who made chasing look like a breeze in the park, but we had a little stumble at the start and had to rebuild.

"Kiran came out and played as his usual aggressive self, and made life easier for me. We got a partnership going and kept the momentum right to the end.

"The first thing I wanted to do was get off a pair, but then a bit of experience helps in those scenarios and in the end it was a good team win."

Coach Matthew Maynard added:

"Delighted to get over the line, what a great advert for Championship cricket played on good wickets.

"Sam is showing a lot of maturity and that's one of the reasons we signed him, we know he's a high-class player, he's got composure at the right time.

"(After losing Michael Hogan to Covid) It's been tough but the boys have pulled together fantastically in adversity.

"Before this game we had one century, and thankfully we've got two lads (Byrom and Ingram) with Championship bests, we need more hundreds to set the platforms for our bowlers."

Sussex coach Ian Salisbury told BBC Sussex Sport:

"First and foremost it was a pretty good game of cricket, but I hate losing. I think we lost it on the afternoon of day two when we bowled poorly, and if you take those two sessions out it could have been a draw or a closer game.

"We were always trying to claw it back and Oli Carter had a sensational game, but it gave it a red hot go.

"I'm still convinced we're on the upward curve and getting better but we're making mistakes along the way. They're learning on the job and that's tough, but that's where we're at if you look at the bowlers who weren't playing (through injury."