Unadkat and Hughes put Sussex on top against Glamorgan

Sussex's Jaydev Unadkat celebrates taking the wicket of Glamorgan's Andy Gorvin

Vitality County Championship Division Two, Hove (day one)

Glamorgan 186 (57.3 overs): Carlson 56; Unadkat 4-52

Sussex 121-1 (36 overs): Hughes 57*, Haines 49

Sussex (3 pts) trail Glamorgan (0 pts) by 65 runs with nine first-innings wickets standing

Match scorecard

Division Two leaders Sussex took complete control against Glamorgan as they reached 121-1 after dismissing the visitors for just 186 on day one at Hove.

India’s Jaydev Unadkat led the way with 4-52 for Sussex, well backed up by fellow seamers Henry Crocombe, Tom Clark and Ollie Robinson.

Sussex openers Tom Haines (49) and Daniel Hughes (57 not out) opened with a stand of 110 to strengthen Sussex’s grip.

Kiran Carlson (56) and Dan Douthwaite (41) were Glamorgan’s main contributors but they were always under pressure with the bat.

It looked a good toss to win in chilly, grey conditions and Unadkat had rookie Asa Tribe caught at short-leg before producing a jaffa of an inswinger to bowl Sam Northeast for nine, while Robinson bowled a mean opening spell to keep the pressure on.

Carlson and Colin Ingram put together a half-century stand before Crocombe got one through Ingram’s gate for 27 and had Billy Root edging to slip.

Carlson looked relatively safe, driving fluently and reaching his half-century off 75 balls with eight fours.

But Tom Clark struck twice in an over just after lunch as he had young all-rounder Ben Kellaway caught behind down the leg-side and then found the outside edge of Carlson’s bat for John Simpson to pouch another catch.

Robinson eventually got a deserved reward when he hit the off-bail of Chris Cooke (17) but Douthwaite and James Harris provided some late resistance in a stand of 49, Douthwaite striking the odd ball hard but largely watchful.

Unadkat returned to claim another two wickets courtesy of Simpson catches, before spinner Jack Carson bamboozled Harris (20) to wrap up the innings.

Sussex had an early let-off when Australian opener Hughes, who received a county cap alongside James Coles, was dropped on the square-leg boundary off Ned Leonard. after Haines nearly played on to James Harris in the first over.

But it was plain sailing from then on as Glamorgan’s seamers failed to match the menace of Unadkat and company and the hundred came up in the 29th over.

Hughes reached 50 off 91 balls and Haines looked set to join him but edged Kellaway to slip as the young spinner found some decent turn before bad light ended play two overs early.

Sussex seam bowler Henry Crocombe told BBC Sussex Sport:

“The pitch had a lot more grass on it and was more useful for the bowlers than last week, so we were very happy bowling first, we kept it pretty tight and got our rewards.

“I found easier bowling to the left-handers (Ingram and Root), bowled a tighter line and got a couple of wickets.

“It’s really useful having Ollie Robinson fielding there (at mid-off), he reminds me to keep it simple, you don’t need to do anything different and go looking for wickets on a pitch like this.”

Glamorgan batter Kiran Carlson told BBC Sport Wales:

“The ball did quite a lot in that morning session and through the afternoon. We did pretty well to get through a tough period in the morning but kept on losing wickets in clusters to get bowled out for an under-par score, then they batted pretty well.

“Ollie Robinson, who’s an international-standard bowler, bowled well at the top so I was pleased to get through that and was playing nicely but unfortunately I couldn’t go on to get a big one.

“We’ve got to try to get back into contention and give ourselves something to aim at in the third innings, if we can bowl them out for around 300 to 350.”