No stopping Chris Cooke and Colin Ingram as Glamorgan march on
Glamorgan made it four wins out of five in their Vitality Blast campaign when they beat the Sussex Sharks by 32 runs at the 1st Central County Ground.For the third match running, their dominant figures with the bat were Colin Ingram (48) and Chris Cooke (50), whose rich vein of form swept them to a formidable total.The Sharks, though, are moving in the opposite direction. This was their third straight defeat, and their fourth in five games, and they now have a mountain to climb if they are to progress in the competition. In their most recent defeats it was their batting that let them down, but here it was their bowling.Ravi Bopara, Sussex’s captain, said: “I thought we were very poor with the ball. Obviously that’s where we lost the game. We bowled about 12 or 13 extra balls. To chase that down was always going to be hard work. That’s where we lost it.”It’s frustrating to be without certain players. We had high hopes for Ali Orr in the blast this year. That’s been a massive blow for us and we haven’t really replaced him as an opener. In this format you need quality openers. They’re generally the guys who win you games.”The guys are still learning. And learning quickly is important. It’s important we stick together. I remember at Essex we won only one game out of six or seven and we went on to win the tournament.”Chasing a huge victory target of 220, Sussex never looked in the chase despite a plucky charge from Tom Alsop, who scored 58 from 41 deliveries. Tom Clark, pulling across the line, was bowled by Jamie McIlroy in the third over and in the next fellow opener Tom Haines departed, unluckily run out through a deflected straight drive by Alsop.Sussex needed something special from Bopara, but their skipper departed in sloppy circumstances, lifting a full toss from Kiran Carlson to long-on for just ten. And two overs later Shadab Khan was caught at cow corner, just below the dressing rooms, for three.The situation was hopeless. But no-one told Alsop. And for a short period, while he found a reliable partner in Michael Burgess, the near-impossible looked on. With ten overs to go Sussex needed 148. Then, from the last five, they needed 90, at an improbable rate of 18 runs an over.But then Alsop was yorked by Dan Douthwaite to make it 133 for 5 in the 16th over and even the most diehard Sharks supporters gave up hope, not even encouraged by some poor catching by the Glamorgan fielders. At least some late hitting by Nathan McAndrew, who struck four sixes in an unbeaten 28, entertained those spectators who remained from a large crowd.Glamorgan had made the most of a flat pitch, a fast outfield and some wayward bowling and fielding from the Sharks to pile up 219-5, with Ingram and Cooke again the stars of the show. There were 23 extras in the innings, including eight no-balls and nine wides.They got off to a flyer, scoring 71 for 1 in the powerplay. There were also two dropped catches in that opening passage of play, to add to the fielding side’s frustrations, including a sitter by James Coles.Glamorgan did lose the dangerous looking Eddie Byrom early on, the batsman, injuring himself in the course of a 10-ball 17, and had to be helped off the field. But captain Carlson maintained the impetus of the innings with two sixes and three fours in a 16-ball 26 before he skied Henry Crocombe to the wicketkeeper Burgess.Sam Northeast, quiet in the opening overs, picked up his pace and raised the hundred from the final delivery of the 10th over when he clouted Shadab over square-leg for six. The Sharks dismissed Northeast at 106 in the 11th over when the batsman drove Crocombe to short extra-cover where Bopara took an excellent low catch.But because of their poor start the Sharks had difficulty stemming the flow of runs as Ingram and Cooke plundered their bowling. Shadab, bowling the 14th over, went for 18 runs and then the next over, bowled by McAndrew, went for 19 runs as Cooke raised the 150 with a marvellous stroke, carving McAndrew over extra-cover for six. Tymal Mills, Crocombe and Bopara had reasonable bowling figures but the other three, Fynn Hudson-Prentice, McAndrew and Shadab were very expensive.