By David Williams
Andy Gorvin plans to build on his first five-wicket haul after the Glamorgan bowler inspired the county to their first County Championship win for a year.
Glamorgan secured a nine-wicket victory over Sussex at Sophia Gardens with Gorvin starring on his way to career-best figures of five for 40.
The home side were dismissed for 411 in the opening overs of day three to lead Sussex by 133 runs on first innings.
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A flurry of wickets at the start of the Sussex innings put them a long way behind in this contest and they never really recovered from that position as Glamorgan bowled them out for 188.
Gorvin’s five wickets were supported by three for 34 from Mir Hamza and two for 21 from Mason Crane.
Glamorgan needed 7.5 overs to reach their victory target to claim 23 points from this game with Sussex managing four bonus points.
“We knew Sussex were top of the table and we had to be at our best, and we’ve played some really good cricket over the last few days and deserve our win,” said Gorvin.
“Mir taking three wickets with the new ball opened up the game, we took a couple more with the newie then James Coles and Fynn Hudson-Prentice batted really well so we had to be disciplined.
“It’s my first five-for so it feels good but it’s a team game and I’m just happy to contribute to the win. I’ve been waiting for the opportunity, hopefully more to come.”
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Glamorgan coach Grant Bradburn added: “The first four games were hard-earned draws, I’m really pleased where the skills are at and I can’t fault the desire, but accepting draws didn’t sit well with us, and we took it on ourselves to take charge.
“We want headaches in selection, and we’ve got some, not only with the overseas professionals (Colin Ingram, Mir Hamza and Marnus Labuschagne) but we’ve got other guys putting their hands up.”
Sussex coach Paul Farbrace said: “It was a pretty ordinary performance, three days where we’ve been outplayed and they showed us how to bat and bowl on that surface.
“I don’t think we were too cocky and arrogant but at times we didn’t show enough respect to the game and to the pitch.
“Jayden Seales has bowled really well this season, we’ve got a good group and we’ve played good cricket for four games, but this game Glamorgan deserved to win.”
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The morning started with Glamorgan’s innings coming to an end thanks to a direct-hit run-out from Tom Haines with no runs added to the overnight total.
From there it had a very familiar feel to the second morning of this match as the new ball wrought chaos with five wickets falling for 32 runs, three of those on the same score.
Hamza claimed the first three wickets with balls that moved more than enough to have the Sussex top-order searching for answers. Tom Clark and Tom Alsop were trapped lbw and the Pakistan international induced an edge to third slip from Haines.
At 32 for three the Sussex team were looking to the experienced pair of Cheteshwar Pujara and John Simpson to put together a rescue effort similar to what Colin Ingram and Kiran Carlson managed on the second day for Glamorgan.
That didn’t transpire, Gorvin dismissed them both in his first over, with late movement once again the issue for the Sussex batters.
There was a sizeable partnership that took Sussex back into the lead, with James Coles and Fynn Hudson-Prentice putting on a stand worth 118 which was impressive in its counterattacking nature.
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Hudson-Prentice took just 47 balls to reach his half century and the Sussex run rate was over four for most of the day.
Hudson-Prentice fell when he chipped a ball from Gorvin to mid-wicket for 70. When Gorvin trapped Danny Lamb lbw he moved on to career-best figures as Sussex were reduced to 164 for seven, just 31 runs in front of Glamorgan.
Gorvin completed his maiden five wicket haul when he dismissed Jack Carson lbw for one but not long afterwards the players left the field for nearly two hours as a result of heavy rain.
When play did resume there were 29 overs left in the day with Sussex 53 runs in front with two second innings wickets intact.
It did not take long after the resumption for Glamorgan to wrap up the Sussex innings. Ari Karvelas was caught behind off Mason Crane and Jayden Seales launched the ball straight in the air off the next delivery and he was caught in the covers.
This set Glamorgan a target of 56 to claim their first County Championship win since May 2023. Billy Root scored 36 of the runs that Glamorgan needed as they secured victory inside three days.
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