James triple ton puts Glamorgan on top

Sussex were in trouble at the end of the second day closing at 112 for five in reply to Glamorgan's mammoth first innings total of 718 for three declared. Sussex made a poor start losing their first wickets inside the first five overs for 11 runs. There was a brief revival with a stand of 66 between Chris Adams and Richard Montgomerie (23) before the latter was out caught behind by Maynard of Dean Cosker.

Sussex lost a further two wickets when Robert Croft took a brilliant catch at first slip to dismiss Will House and Robin Martin-Jenkins fell to a reckless hook shot. But Adams, playing a lone hand, made a half century for Sussex and remained unbeaten on 55 at close of play.

Earlier Glamorgan's Steve James made an unbeaten 309, the first triple hundred by a Glamorgan batsman and erased the 61-year-old record held by Emrys Davies (287) against Gloucestershire at Newport in 1939. His triple century was made of 440 balls in 602 minutes which included 41 hits to the fence. His lone chance was on 285. There were a few milestones during the course of the innings. First, James helped the Welsh county to post a record total of 718 - the county's highest in the championship since they were admitted in 1921. And when James completed his 200, he also became the first batsman to score five double hundreds for the county.

James shared a few partnerships during the course of his unbeaten innings of character and concentration. He shared a record first wicket partnership of 374 with Mathew Elliot (177), then a second wicket partnership of 123 with Mike Powell (64), a stand of 134 with Mathew Maynard (67, three 4s, five 6s) for the third wicket and finally an unbeaten 87-run partnership with Dale for the fourth wicket.

At the end of the day, talking to the media, a relaxed and satisfied James said "It was a great honour to pass the best Glamorgan score ever made. I did not think about it when I continued my innings this morning. I treated every ball on its merits and did not think about the milestones because the next ball could have got me."

James added "I was only tense when I reached 287 (set by the late Davies) and was pleased to get that single to pass his score. But then I never thought too much about reaching 300 until it came along. I now feel very tired but very relieved."