Cosgrove leads Glamorgan effort
Glamorgan opener Mark Cosgrove hit a magnificent 142 before Sussex's bowlers fought back in the final session on the second day of the battle between the front-runners in Division Two of the County Championship
28-Aug-2010
Glamorgan opener Mark Cosgrove hit a magnificent 142 before Sussex's bowlers fought back in the final session on the second day of the battle between the front-runners in Division Two of the County Championship. Glamorgan declared on 300 for 9 at Hove after losing their last six wickets for 61 as both teams gained three bonus points. Sussex closed on 30 without loss from five overs.
Australian Cosgrove was at the crease for 10 minutes short of four hours, facing 177 balls and scored 100 of his runs from 25 well-struck boundaries. He dominated the Glamorgan innings but honours ended just about even with a draw still the favourite outcome after the first-day washout.
There was a further hour's delay this morning to enable part of the outfield to dry out and when Sussex won the toss they unsurprisingly asked Glamorgan to bat on a pitch which initially offered movement to the seamers. Both teams opted to leave out a spinner - Ollie Rayner and Robert Croft the unlucky pair - but it was Monty Panesar who broke the opening partnership when he had Gareth Rees caught from a reverse-sweep shortly before lunch.
Cosgrove and Will Bragg, playing in his only second Championship of the season, then settled into a productive partnership with Cosgrove playing a series of punishing drives through the offside. The burly left-hander passed 50 for the eighth time this season with eight fours as the second wicket pair shared a century stand in 24 overs. They added 120 before Bragg, who had earlier been bowled by a no-ball from Luke Wright, was leg before to the same bowler for 44.
Cosgrove, when he scored 97, passed 1,000 first-class runs for the season and when he chopped Panesar to the third man boundary reached his fifth century of the campaign. He also scored 102 runs in the afternoon session though Sussex gained their first bowling point in the final over before tea when Ben Wright was bowled by Yasir Arafat for 16.
Sussex then captured two wickets immediately after the interval with Tom Maynard well taken at second slip off Corey Collymore before Arafat ended Cosgrove's brilliant innings by yorking the opener. A collapse set in as the Sussex seamers bowled with renewed control. The recalled James Anyon took three wickets and Collymore two as the West Indian became the first Sussex bowler to take 50 wickets in the season.
It was left to David Harrison with four boundaries to guide Glamorgan to their third batting point before acting captain Mark Wallace declared, although James Harris and Huw Waters were unable to claim a breakthrough before the close.
