County championship: Briggs and Brown set up vital Sussex win

Sussex captain Luke Wright praised his bowlers for sparking the Glamorgan collapse that set up a county championship win that has kept alive their promotion hopes.
Danny BriggsDanny Briggs
Danny Briggs

After bowling out the hosts on the final day at Sophia Gardens for 263, Wright’s men were left needing 233 for their second championship win of the campaign - and after a few scares, they got there with two wickets to spare.

Wright said: “The pitch was a little damp, it was tough to bat on and rather that set up a game with Glamorgan we wanted to try to bowl them out.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Chasing 233 was always going to be difficult, but credit to Ben Brown and Danny Briggs wo set up the win with that 55-run stand.”

Sussex are 43 points behind leaders Essex with a game in hand in the race for division two’s sole promotion spot and Wright added; “We have big games left against Kent and Essex, and I am glad we won as we still have an outside chance of promotion, even if it is a slim one.”

The partnership of 55 in nine overs for the eighth wicket between Brown and Briggs set up Sussex’s triumph.

Although Briggs was out for an aggressive 36, Brown and George Garton guided Sussex home with 20 balls remaining.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

At one stage they had been reduced to 156 for seven, with Timm Van Der Gugten taking 5-73, his third five wicket haul of the season, but the eighth-wicket pair’s partnership was a vital one for the visitors.

Glamorgan had resumed on 149 for 2, but soon lost their overnight batsmen Will Bragg and David Lloyd, who had put on 77 for the third wicket.

Despite an attractive innings of 59 from 64 balls from Aneurin Donald, Glamorgan then lost their way as the last five wickets fell for just 17 runs.

Donald was caught behind off Garton, who then dismissed Mark Wallace with his next ball. Graham Wagg struck Briggs into the River Taff, but attempted a shot two overs later and mistimed and was caught at mid-off.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The reckless approach continued, and instead of setting Sussex a challenging target, they were left to chase 233 in 62 overs.

Van Der Gugten gave Glamorgan the perfect start when he trapped Ed Joyce leg before with the first ball of the innings, but Chis Nash and Luke Wells were seldom in trouble adding 86 for the second wicket before Wells was lbw to Owen Morgan’s left arm spin for 33.

At tea, Sussex were comfortably placed on 92 for 2, before Wagg dismissed Nash for 64 following his 132 in the first innings. Sussex then lost three wickets for 12 runs, as Van der Gugten, who had changed ends and after dismissing Christian Davis leg before, bowled David Wiese and Luke Wright.

When Briggs joined Brown, after Jofra Archer’s dismissal, Sussex required another 77, but Briggs, who has played some useful innings recently, was soon into his stride, striking boundaries on both sides of the wicket. He eventually holed out to mid-on but Brown was there at the end on 42 out.

EDWARD BEVAN

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking sports news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be among the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make this website your homepage

2 Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/Sport-Sussex

3 Follow us on Twitter @SportSussex

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

Related topics: