County Championship: Northeast ton boosts Glamorgan against Sussex

Sam Northeast was Glamorgan's top scorer in the Championship in 2022

A solid 104 from Sam Northeast and a dashing 59 from Kiran Carlson put Glamorgan on the front foot as they set Sussex a demanding 359 to win.

The visitors will start the final day in Cardiff on 27-1.

Carlson's aggressive knock was completely out of character with the rest of the day's patient progress.

Nathan McAndrew (4-47) led the Sussex attack in bowling Glamorgan out for 319 on a slow pitch as they chose not to take the new ball.

Northeast's century was his first of the season, including six fours and two late sixes, before he was last out.

After just 184 runs were scored in a full second day, the pattern of batting struggles continued in the first session under cloudy skies with Ari Karvelas nipping a ball back to bowl Andrew Salter, playing no shot, without addition to his overnight 22.

Tom Bevan (15) struck a couple of sweet boundaries before being cleaned up by a fine delivery from McAndrew, while converted opener Zain Ul Hassan defended patiently to reach 47 before being given lbw to Jack Carson the first ball after lunch.

The glacial tempo was soon changed by the entrance of Carlson.

He started positively and then accelerated in spectacular style with successive straight sixes off Carson, adding maximums off Ari Karvelas and Tom Haines in a stand of 85 with Northeast.

Medium-pacer Haines had his revenge as Carlson was leg-before trying to launch one into the grandstand, but the acting home captain had done enough to change the feel of the game.

Billy Root made a quick 19 before being bowled by McAndrew with a delivery that kept low, while the hard-working McAndrew claimed two further wickets despite appearing to labour for full fitness, as the back half of the home innings fell away.

The remaining question was whether the calm Northeast could reach his century with last man Jamie McIlroy at the wicket, and he blasted Coles for a straight four and six to reach 97 before lofting Coles for another six over long-off to reach three figures.

Sussex only needed to score at 3.18 runs an over to win the match, but it still seemed a long shot on a tricky surface and they had 17 overs to survive in murky light.

Haines looked fidgety at the crease and fell for 11, caught at slip by Bevan off leg-spinner Mitch Swepson, leaving Tom Clark to survive accompanied by night-watchman Karvelas for the last five overs of spin.

Glamorgan batter Sam Northeast told BBC Sport Wales:

"It was a good day for us on the sort of pitch where you have to grind away. We're going to have to do that with the ball, but it started to turn and there were some positive signs that hopefully we can push for the win.

"Everyone's getting used to this Kookaburra ball this week, how to bowl with it and how it reacts to the surface.

"Kiran is in fantastic touch, looking the part, and the impetus went up when he came in, putting the pressure back on Sussex and allowing me to get myself in.

"It was a nice confidence-booster to get my first century of the season and there's so much cricket left, hopefully I can take that form forward and score some more hundreds."

Sussex bowler Ari Karvelas told BBC Radio Sussex:

"A very interesting day, I think we bowled well. As the ball gets softer it's harder to score and you can see that by the run rate.

"The main thing with the Kookaburra ball is it gets softer a lot quicker, it's probably reversed more than the Dukes ball. We knew they were going to look to be more positive (batting) and we felt that would be harder to do when the ball was older and softer.

"We've spoken all season about playing positive cricket, so 100% we're coming here to stamp our authority and look to win this game."