ROBINSON TOO HOT FOR GLAM
OLLIE Robinson continued his push for England recognition with careerbest bowling figures of 9-78 as Sussex wrapped up an eight-wicket victory against Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens in the LV=Insurance County Championship on Sunday.
Glamorgan started the day 62 runs in front with Kiran Carlson and Callum Taylor well set and they managed to get to lunch for the loss of just one wicket.
That changed after the interval, with Robinson claiming four victims in the space of four overs to set up victory in a match where he took 13 wickets and made 67 with the bat.
Sussex needed 154 for victory, a total they reached with few alarms, Aaron Thomason top-scoring with 78 not out.
Sussex didn’t have to wait long for their first breakthrough, Robinson claiming his fifth wicket when Carlson edged him to Thomason in the slips for 132.
With Carlson dismissed for the first time in this match – the Cardiff-born player made 127 not out in the first innings – Sussex had a chance to wrap up the Glamorgan innings quickly but Taylor and Dan Douthwaite stood firm.
Taylor went past his fifty from 132 balls, an innings that was a stark contrast to his lightning-quick hundred on debut last season, and Glamorgan reached the lunch break at 336-6 with the chances of a drawn match increasing.
As has been the case throughout this match, however, it was Robinson who made the difference.
He was back into the attack for the start of the afternoon session and had Douthwaite dismissed lbw for 26. He repeated this feat with the very next ball, James Weighell trapped in front to bag a pair on his Glamorgan debut.
Robinson picked up the last two Glamorgan wickets, returning the best first-class figures by an Englandqualified player since Chris Woakes took 9-36 against Durham in 2016. The last man out was Taylor for 84 from 251 balls.
Glamorgan started well in the final innings with Michael Hogan getting Tom Haines caught at first slip by Andy Balbirnie for two.
The only other success for Glamorgan came when first innings centurion Stiaan van Zyl edged David Lloyd to Chris Cooke for 12.
From there it was all Sussex as Aaron Thomason made his second fifty of the match and Tom Clark finished on 54 not out in a partnership that was worth 112.
Robinson said: “Very pleased. It is a great win. We have had a really good winter training and to get that win over four days is really satisfactory.
“I have always said if I can just keep performing for Sussex hopefully the England selectors can see that and I will get my chance.
“I’ve been with England for 18 months here and there, sort of in and out. I feel like I am ready for Test cricket and I have just got to wait for my chance I suppose but I am definitely ready.”
On the win over Glamorgan, Robinson added: “Kiran Carlson batted very well, 250 in the game, and (Callum) Taylor applied himself yesterday and this morning.
“We knew when we saw the pitch it was going to go all four days, it is drier at the moment than normally in April.
“We spoke before the game about making sure we are there every day for four days and we knew if we did that we would come out on top.
Carlson added: “It is nice to have personal milestones, but it never gets easier losing.
“I think it is just important for us to take the positives from this week and move on to next week.
“There has been a bit of technical stuff, a bit of mindset shift, that’s it really, just trying to go out there with a clear head.
“As a team there were a few good things this week. If we can just stick to our process we can definitely get a result [at Northampton] and I think it is one of those things that we just need to stick with this season and the results will come.”
Glamorgan are next in County Championship action in a four-day game away to Northants starting tomorrow.
They then return to Sophia Gardens the following Thursday (april 29) to take on Kent in the same competition.
Glamorgan 285 and 349 lost to Sussex 481 and 154-2 by 8 wkts