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Day 1: Jones bags maiden five wicket haul

First day of four: Glamorgan (39-2) trail Sussex (222) by 183 runs

Simon Jones, at 20, can only dream of following his father into the England side as a fast bowler, but he made an early name for himself at Sophia Gardens yesterday by taking a maiden five-wicket haul for Glamorgan in only his fourth championship match.

Unlike his father Jeff, who won 15 England caps in the Sixties, Simon scampered in as a right-hander, though obvious similarities would include enthusiasm and the sort of whippy pace that could produce the occasional firecracker and a wicket from nowhere.

The pitch lacked pace and its occasional low bounce was disconcerting for the batsmen. Sussex would have been in deep trouble without an obdurate 55 by Shaun Humphries, their wicketkeeper, who found an equally determined partner in Umer Rashid, the newcomer from Middlesex, in a stand of 71 for the ninth wicket.

Jones's return of five for 31 was well-deserved. He took a wicket with his third delivery - Richard Montgomerie lobbing an attempted pull to mid-off - and he darted one across the left-handed Michael Di Venuto to have the Australian well held at first slip.

Jones finished in triumph by tempting Humphries out of his bunker, resulting in a top-edged hook, and by bowling Rashid behind his legs two balls later, but the day's biggest cheer acclaimed the wicket taken by Robert Croft with his first ball. His victim, held at silly mid-off, was Tony Cottey, his former Glamorgan team-mate and best man at his wedding.

Day 2: Maynard injury adds to Glamorgan worry

Charles Randall at Cardiff

Second day of four: Sussex (222 & 136-5) lead Glamorgan (149) by 209 runs

Glamorgan already face an uncomfortable wait before Jacques Kallis becomes available and, as though on cue, Matthew Maynard has put himself out of action for at least a month.

Glamorgan's batting line-up, already weak, becomes downright rickety without Maynard, and much could depend on another golden season from Steve James, judging by the pattern against Sussex.

Maynard stubbed his little finger in the ground during fielding practice at the end of the first day. His injury proved to be a nasty break, and Glamorgan soon found themselves in trouble without him yesterday, bundled out by James Kirtley and company.

Kallis, the brilliant South African, travels to Wales as soon as his part in the World Cup finishes on June 20 or earlier, and Maynard, Glamorgan's captain, will presumably return at the end of May, all so depressingly reminiscent of his May lay-off last season after a warm-up groin injury.

The best resistance to the Sussex seam attack came from Dean Cosker, the nightwatchman, who grafted for a career-best 49 in three hours. He defended sensibly and ladled the ball away attentively.

From one of his drives, Cosker was granted an all-run five when Chris Adams, assuming the ball would reach the extra-cover rope, dawdled after it like a man suffering from a heavy lunch.

Kirtley, the bowler, looked appalled, but he ended up with five wickets and might well have had more, zipping the ball around at pace. Then Sussex, thanks to Toby Peirce's consolidating 79 not out, put themselves on course for victory, their first at Sophia Gardens.

None of Cosker's colleagues lasted long; Keith Newell looked unsettled against his former team-mates, and Robert Croft endured the embarrassment of having his middle stump ripped out first ball.

Glamorgan's seam bowlers probably did not attack the stumps enough on an easing pitch, and the left-handed Peirce cashed in. Croft ended Kirtley's nightwatchman innings with the fifth ball of the day's final over, but this should be Sussex's game.

Day 3: James quality stalls Sussex

Charles Randall at Cardiff

Third day of four: Glamorgan (149 & 171-2) need 168 to beat Sussex (222 & 265).

Sussex found their drive towards victory at Sophia Gardens halted by a masterly innings from Steve James, who resumes this morning on 99.

The odds remain against 10-man Glamorgan turning a likely defeat around in pursuit of a 339-run target, but James showed yesterday what could be done with confidence and, dare it be said, top-drawer quality as an opener.

His bustling three-hour innings exposed the mediocre general level of batting in this match, and even Toby Peirce's 123, his second hundred in 41 matches, was laborious and unlovely to an extreme on what had become a featherbed pitch.

However, if Sussex win, as they deserve to, the end will have justified the means. Their middle-order collapse against Robert Croft could then be quietly forgotten.

James, Glamorgan's stand-in captain for the injured Matthew Maynard, moved briskly onwards after a cheeky start when his cut off Robin Martin-Jenkins disappeared under the old county offices, losing the new ball in the fourth over.

The replacement was snicked by Alun Evans to the wicketkeeper next over, but Adrian Dale gave James the right support. Chris Adams's occasional seamers broke the stand, ushering in Keith Newell for a make-or-break visit against his former team-mates.

In the morning it had been Martin-Jenkins with the bat who took over Sussex's run-making responsibility before slashing a sharp catch to slip when 52 to give Croft his first five-wicket haul for two years.

Rajesh Rao, Peirce's partner on resumption, lasted only two balls, and one wondered whether a mother duck and her string of ducklings, who held up play briefly on their way to the River Taff, might be an omen. It was just as well Martin-Jenkins had other ideas.

Peirce, after his sensible effort the previous day, which had taken his score to 79 overnight, became becalmed, a risk when batting with the tail.

Day 4: James leads record reply

Neil Hallam at Cardiff

Robert Croft and Stephen James provided the dominant contributions to the highest fourth-innings total ever made for victory on this ground as Glamorgan completed a six-wicket success over Sussex.

Croft followed figures of five for 82 in Sussex's second innings with a resourceful, unbeaten 58 in Glamorgan's 341 for four to send him off to join England's World Cup squad in match-winning form.

James, who has bruised the selectors' ribs with persistent nudges in recent seasons, gave them another prod with a typically pugnacious 153 - a timely effort, considering Michael Atherton's fitness problems offer the prospect of an extra vacancy for an opener in the series against New Zealand.

The two enabled the Welshmen to improve on Worcestershire's 330 for 6 in 1976, the previous record for the highest winning total in a fourth innings here.

Only once, with 367 for six against Hampshire at Southampton in 1990, have Glamorgan done better anywhere in pursuit of a target and this without captain Matthew Maynard, out for several weeks after breaking a finger during fielding practice on the first day.

Croft said afterwards: ``Send-offs don't come much better than that. Some people were critical of the fact that the England players were sent back to play county cricket after the Sharjah trip but in my case it was a real bonus.

``To get both wickets and runs is the perfect tonic when you are off for the biggest challenge of your sporting life.''

James, who resumed on 99 and completed his 36th first-class hundred off the ninth ball of the morning, hit 10 fours in his third fifty before another scuttler in Chris Adams's first over pinned him in front.

Keith Newell clearly relished his part in a stand which yielded 109 in 28 overs against his former county and when he was out it was left to Croft and Adrian Shaw to fend off a Sussex attack, which was generous and erratic far too often.