Sussex rally after Hamza-led collapse at Glamorgan
Vitality County Championship Division Two, Sophia Gardens, (day one)
Sussex: 278: Hudson-Prentice 48, Pujara 41; Hamza 4-70, Harris 4-93
Glamorgan: 21-1: Byrom 12; Karvelas 1-6
Glamorgan (3 pts) trail Sussex (1 pt) by 257 runs
Sussex recovered impressively from a batting collapse against Glamorgan on a first day of significant momentum swings in their County Championship encounter in Cardiff.
After Glamorgan won the toss and chose to bowl first, Mir Hamza tore through Sussex’s batting order after lunch with 4-70 as the visitors folded from 96-2 to 140-7.
Fynn Hudson-Prentice (48) and Jack Carson (39) led a Sussex counter-attack with a stand of 66, before Ari Karvelas’ 39 helped the Division Two leaders post a total of 278.
Hamza’s new ball partner James Harris was the other bowler to cause most damage with 4-93 and, after six overs to navigate towards the close of play, Glamorgan reached 21-1.
Home captain Sam Northeast had raised a few eyebrows when he won the toss and elected to field on a morning which seemed made for batting, with glorious spring sunshine beaming down on what looked like a decent pitch.
Sussex appeared to confirm those suspicions with a solid start, recovering from the early losses of openers Tom Clark and Tom Haines to reach 94-2 at lunch.
Glamorgan took control in the afternoon session as Hamza played a starring role, claiming the prized wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara – caught behind for 41 – before dismissing John Simpson and James Coles lbw.
Having slipped from 96-2 to 140-7, Sussex rallied as Hudson-Prentice and Carson added 66 for the eighth wicket while Karvelas and Jayden Seales compounded Glamorgan’s frustration with a partnership of 43 as the away side secured one batting bonus point.
That left Glamorgan with six overs to face before the close, and the first yielded 13 runs as opener Eddie Byrom launched Jayden Seales for six in the second ball of the innings.
But Byrom was gone by the 11th delivery, out lbw to Karvelas, as Sussex landed an important early blow late in the day.
Glamorgan’s Mir Hamza told BBC Sport Wales:
“I didn’t come here to bowl at 2.5 or three runs an over, I came here to take wickets for my team and get some wins. I’ve been trying my best, I’ve bowled well in previous matches and thankfully I’ve got some wickets, and hopefully some more in the next few matches.
“Marnus (Labuschagne, available next week) has performed a lot for Glamorgan and he’s a world-class player, it’s good to have three (overseas) pros in one team because it’s a big schedule and a lot of matches. “
Sussex’s Ari Karvelas told BBC Sussex Sport:
“There’s been a lot of runs scored lower down (the batting order) when we have been in trouble and that’s credit to the coaches getting the right balance of the team, we bat all the way down.
“The way Eddie (Byrom) came out was super-positive, maybe that’s the way they’re going to play, but the ball’s only six overs old so we’ve got to make sure we’re straight back on it. Jayden (Seales) bowled some rapid balls, from fine leg I thought it was absolutely lightning.”
