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ScorecardIt seems a pretty safe bet to assume that neither Haseeb Hameed or Jos Buttler will be in the England squad for the first Test against South Africa when it is named at 9am on Saturday.Both were in the side the last time England played a Test series – December in India, though Hameed missed the final Test through injury – but, for various reasons, it seems neither will retain their place.Haseeb Hameed has simply not scored enough runs. In 15 first-class innings this season, he has failed to make a 50 and only reached 25three times. He’s been out for a duck four times.By the time the India series finished, it seemed unthinkable that Hameed would not be retained for England’s next Test. But, whetherit’s a case of county bowlers learning how to bowl at him after a successful first season in the game, or whether he is strugglingmentally with the new levels of expectation with which he is confronted, is hard to say. His balance at the crease might also be a factor; his movements certainly don’t seem as sharp as they did in India with a prop onto the front foot perhaps leaving him exposed whenhe has to play back.Butter was promoted to open in the second innings here. It was a tactical decision based upon the hope that he might enjoy the pace ofthe harder ball and also soften it more quickly. Worcestershire enjoyed success with similar tactics against Durham.It was selfless of Buttler to agree to such a ploy. But whether it’s what he needs at this stage of his career is debatable. Rather thanbringing his undisputed white ball skills to play in red (or pink) ball cricket, he might be better served developing his long-form skills.He hasn’t had much chance to do that. Since the end of the 2014 season, he has played just two Championship games and scored 45Championship runs. He has played 15 Tests, it is true, but few learn their trade at the top level without an apprenticeship. It is asking alot of him to do so.It would be understandable if Buttler didn’t continue to pursue a future as a red ball player. He doesn’t need to: his status as a whiteball player – and his earning potential – is strong. If he helps England win a World Cup, he can retire with a proud record.He has always said, however, that he is keen to make it as a Test player and he clearly has the raw ability to do so. But, as JohnLennon put it, life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. And the down side of England’s new prioritisation ofwhite ball cricket – the decision to play in the IPL rather than County Championship; the decision to allocate a window in prime summerto a new-team T20 competition – is that there is simply no time for players like Buttler to learn their red-ball trade. It’s no-one’s fault, it’s just a reflection of the modern world.Haseeb Hameed has done nothing to retain his England place•Getty Images

Anyway Buttler, having attempted a lavish swipe outside off stump, soon departed to a catch at mid-wicket as he tried to clip one throughthe leg side. And Hameed, who survived a strong leg before shout on 15, was then trapped by a little away swing as he shaped to playthrough mid-wicket and was beaten by one that looked as if it were heading on to his pads, but straightened towards middle and off.Both might have learned a thing or two from Andy Umeed’s innings. While both Hameed and Buttler paid for playing across the line, Umeed played resolutely straight and demonstrated remarkable patience in adding 100 for Warwickshire eighth-wicket with Jeetan Patel.It has emerged – courtesy of Robert Brooke, co-founder of the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians – that Umeed’scentury was the second slowest (in terms of minutes; records in terms of balls have only been reliably kept since about 1987) in the history of the County Championship after Jason Gallian’s 453 minute effort for Lancashire against Derbyshire at Blackpool in 1994. It took Umeed 429 minutes to reach three-figures, which was nine minutes slower than WH ‘Billy’ Denton’s 420-minutes century for Northants against Derbyshire in 1914.Warwickshire’s management have been asking for their batsmen to show some fight for a few weeks; in Umeed they found an old-fashioned battler. It is not a fashionable quality, but then nor are good manners or driving on the inside lane on a motorway and those things have value, too.The most fluent batting on day three of this game came from Alex Davies. Driving, cutting and pulling with more freedom than anyoneelse has managed all game, Davies helped Lancashire wipe off the first innings arrears of 48 and gain a lead of 130 going into the final day.But when he fell top-edging an attempted pull and Steven Croft laced another pull to mid-wicket where Umeed took an excellent catch – itseems he can move pretty fast when required – Warwickshire clawed their way into the game once more. If the weather holds, we might yethave a terrific finish here.

Scorecard<!–Aneurin Donald ensured Glamorgan reached safety•Getty Images

An unbroken fifth wicket partnership of 87 between Aneurin Donald and Chris Cooke ensured Glamorgan secured a draw after the visitors, asked to chase an unlikely 355 off 57 overs, had subsided to 57 for 4 on the final evening of the Specsavers county championship match at the Fischer County Ground.The early dismissals of first innings centurions Nick Selman, leg below to a Clint McKay delivery which kept low, and Colin Ingram, lbw to a Ben Raine in-swinger, gave the Foxes hope of securing the win.Their chances increased when Zak Chappell produced a brute of a delivery which Glamorgan skipper Jacques Rudolph could only glove to wicket-keeper Lewis Hill, and had Cameron Delport, diving forward from point, not dropped Donald at point when he fended off a Charlie Shreck bouncer with the score on just 65, Leicestershire might well have enforced the win.As it was, however, McKay and Raine were both forced to leave the field with injuries, and though Eckersley shuffled his pack, Donald and Cooke were able to see the game to a conclusion eight overs before the scheduled close.Earlier, an unbeaten century from Mark Pettini, his first for Leicestershire at the Fischer County Ground, had enabled Eckersely to declare after Glamorgan’s seamers initially controlled the scoring rate to impressive effect.Fast bowler Marchant De Lange made two early breakthroughs, finding the edge of Eckersley’s bat with his second delivery of the day, Selman taking a comfortable catch at second slip, before Delport failed to middle an attempted drive and gave Lukas Carey the simplest of catches at mid-off.Pettini and Hill were given few opportunities to accelerate, and only when the front-line bowlers were rested were the batsmen able to improve the run rate. Pettini reached his century off 163 balls, and Raine struck three huge sixes off De Lange before Eckersley – not before time in the opinion of a number of Leicestershire supporters – called his batsmen in.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:33

‘Bavuma, de Kock saved SA from precarious position’

South Africa were taken from the potential of a significant deficit to a substantial lead by a rollicking seventh-wicket stand of 160 between Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock on the second day in Wellington. They transformed a pre-lunch position of 94 for 6 with the most dominant batting of the series to date and, although both fell short of hundreds, South Africa closed with a lead of 81 after the last-wicket pair added further frustration for New Zealand.While the South African pair batted superbly, New Zealand will ponder how things raced away at such a rate after they had managed to rumble the top order during the morning session. Colin de Grandhomme, who finished with 3 for 52, claimed the key duo of Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis while Neil Wagner continued JP Duminy’s frustrating tour. From the lowest ebb of South Africa’s innings the last four wickets managed to amass 255 runs from 65 overs.Both first innings followed similar patters: New Zealand had recovered from 101 for 5 through a stand of 116 between Henry Nicholls and BJ Watling on the opening day. As the ball grew older, the bowlers struggled to keep control, knocked back by the aggression shown by de Kock who won his little duel with Jeetan Patel for first time on the tour. Crucially, Patel could not strike or provide control for Kane Williamson while South Africa recovered as he conceded five-an-over in his first 10 overs.The gamesmanship card had been played when de Kock arrived in the middle shortly before lunch as Patel was given the last over of the session to target the man he had removed in the previous four innings. This time, despite the occasional hairy moment as de Kock refused to be dominated, he came through either side of lunch and then started to cut loose against the quicks.He upper cut Tim Southee over the slips for six and hooked Wagner onto the grass banks. At one stage, as he negotiated Patel, de Kock had 17 off 33 balls but then skipped to his half-century from 55 deliveries as the mood of the day swung back to South Africa. The short-pitched approach did not fluster him – it was arguably over-done – and Kane Williamson was soon on the retreat – a packed slip cordon replaced by scouts on the boundary.Colin de Grandhomme removed Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis in the morning session•Getty Images

When Patel returned for a second spell before tea, de Kock skipped down the pitch and deposited him straight down the ground. No doubt about the winner this time. He was nine away from a fourth Test hundred when he pushed out at a delivery from James Neesham, who produced a wholehearted burst shortly before the new ball, at a time when New Zealand were looking a little short of ideas.Bavuma took a backseat once de Kock found his stride after coming through an early trial from the short ball. He had one fortunate moment when he spliced a pull which lobbed over mid-on as de Grandhomme lost his footing. As the afternoon progressed, having batting in de Kock’s slipstream, he became far more assured and moved to his fifty from 88 balls.His off-side driving, off front and back foot, was especially eye-catching and a significant moment – a first overseas century – was on the horizon when he got underneath a pull and found deep square leg. But having come into the tour under a modicum of scrutiny, after a lean series against Sri Lanka, it has been a resounding response from Bavuma following his half-century in Dunedin. However, New Zealand could not wrap things up swiftly as Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel added an unbroken 47 for the last wicket, which included a concerning moment when Morkel took a blow on the helmet from Southee but he managed to finish nine short of his best Test score.How South Africa needed the recovery act. They had resumed on 24 for 2 with both openers already dismissed and Kagiso Rabada, the nightwatchman, soon joined them when Southee swung one through him in his first over. It did not take Wagner long to strengthen New Zealand’s position when, with his seventh ball of the day, and first to JP Duminy, he claimed him for the third time in the series courtesy of a loose flick which picked out midwicket.De Grandhomme then followed Southee after an eight-over spell with success coming almost immediately when Amla, still struggling to find his best form, could barely believe he had picked out midwicket against a delivery on his pads he would normally ease away for runs. Henry Nicholls, the star of the opening day for New Zealand, could not take the catch at the first attempt but was able to grab the rebound: when things run your way, make the most of them.Faf du Plessis appeared keen to try and wrestle back the situation with aggression – top-edging Wagner for six when he was not in control of the pull – and shortly before lunch inside-edged a drive against de Grandhomme with BJ Watling taking a low catch. At that stage even parity was a long way off, but in a series that has produced six days of counterpunches, South Africa threw the latest of them. It could be a decisive one.

Hosts England will open the Women’s World Cup against India in Derby on June 24, while defending champions Australia will begin two days later against World T20 champions West Indies in Taunton, with the ICC expecting “unprecedented” support for the tournament.New Zealand and Sri Lanka will also be in action on the opening day of the month-long tournament. A round-robin group stage will be followed by semi-finals in Bristol and Derby before the final at Lord’s on July 23. It will be the first time the final will be staged at Lord’s since 1993 when England beat New Zealand by 67 runs.There will be two weekend days when all eight teams will be in action. On Sunday, July 2, the four matches include the Trans-Tasman clash between Australia and New Zealand and India facing Pakistan. Saturday, July 15, will see all eight playing again as the round-robin stage comes to an end.Tickets for the group matches will go on sale at 12pm GMT on March 8 – International Women’s Day – with adult prices start at £10 and £5 for students (aged 17-23) and £2 for Under-16s. Tickets for the semi-finals start £15 for adults while the final begins at £30, with a silver band of tickets at £20 then students at £10 and Under-16s £5.”We are anticipating an exciting tournament and I know the players are looking forward to competing here in front of unprecedented levels of support,” David Richardson, the ICC chief executive, said. “We’ve already sold 9000 tickets for the final at Lord’s which bodes well for the rest of the event going on sale today. I know we can always count on the British sport loving public to support big events.”India, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka secured their places at the World Cup through the recent qualifying event in Sri Lanka.

Imran Tahir, the South Africa legspinner, has been reprimanded by the ICC for a wicket celebration in which he revealed a t-shirt under his playing kit with an image of the late Junaid Jamshed, a one-time Pakistani pop icon and latterly a religious preacher, who was also popular among some former Pakistani cricketers.After dismissing Asela Gunaratne in the second T20I at the Wanderers, Tahir took off into one of his typical celebratory sprints and then pulled his playing shirt over his head to reveal the image. Jamshed was one of the victims of a Pakistan International Airlines plane crash en route to Islamabad in December. Jamshed was photographed earlier that day with Saeed Anwar in Chitral, in northern Pakistan, from where the plane took off.Tahir’s reaction was quickly picked up on social media and there was initially no response from the ICC. But they have since reprimanded him for a procedural breach under section G1 of their clothing and equipment regulations which relates to displaying personal messages without approval.The regulation states: “Players and team officials shall not be permitted to wear, display or otherwise convey messages through arm bands or other items affixed to clothing or equipment (“Personal Messages”) unless approved in advance by both the player or team official’s Board and the ICC Cricket Operations Department. Approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes”.Tahir admitted the offence and accepted the sanction so there was no need for a formal hearing.

ScorecardFile photo: Albie Morkel hit 30 off 23 balls to inject impetus into Titans’ innings•Getty Images

A strong all-round performance from Titans’ captain Albie Morkel ensured the defending champions got their campaign off to a winning start. Morkel shared in the highest partnership of the innings – 74 runs – with top-scorer Heino Kuhn for the fourth wicket, and then derailed Lions’ chase of 195 with 3 for 12.After being sent in, Titans slumped to 16 for 2 within three overs. Kuhn and Qaasim Adams put on 48 before Kuhn and Morkel launched a mid-innings assault. Kuhn’s fifty came off 34 balls and he stayed unbeaten on 83 off 52 balls, including four fours and four sixes. Allrounder Willem Mulder took the most punishment – his four overs went for 56. South Africa finisher Farhaan Behardien did the same job for his franchise and blasted 37 not out off 17 balls to take the Titans close to 200.In reply, Lions lost regular wickets and collapsed to 94 for 7. Morkel, Lungi Ngidi and Malusi Siboto combined well and carved their way through the Lions line-up. Opener Rassie van der Dussen counterattacked with 51 off 28 balls and was only supported by No. 9 Hardus Viljoen. The latter’s 41 off 26 balls was the only other score over 11 in the Lions’ innings as they failed to keep pace.

September is an unusual time to play cricket in Kolkata. The monsoon is only just winding down and grand Puja festivities are around the corner. Eden Gardens has never hosted a Test in this month. Add the freshly relaid square and the overcast, muggy weather to the mix and there is an uncertainty about what to expect from the conditions.There is less doubt about India’s combination for the second Test against New Zealand, but they have added offspinner Jayant Yadav to the squad just in case.Jayant’s inclusion as a replacement for the ill Ishant Sharma might seem odd, but it makes sense given the occasional discomfort R Ashwin bowled with in the first Test in Kanpur. Ashwin said he had gone into the match without having bowled a lot in the previous 25 days because of a corn, a painful area of thickened skin, on the middle finger of his bowling hand.”This game especially, I have a corn on my finger and I haven’t bowled a lot in the last 25 days,” Ashwin had said after the third day in Kanpur. “I’m not very happy with the way it has come out so far. I just hope that I can do better in the series.”Jayant is likely to be on stand-by if the corn proves too painful for Ashwin to play in Kolkata, but India’s coach Anil Kumble said all 15 players were available for selection. Even if Jayant doesn’t play, bowling alongside Test spinners to Test batsmen in the nets is valuable experience. Ashwin did not bowl at practice two days before the Test, but that is no indication of his fitness because others had also opted out of the optional training session.Among those who turned up, Virat Kohli practised batting against a rubber ball, presumably to get used to a bit of spongy or uneven bounce. He had failed to control a slog sweep in the second innings in Kanpur, top-edging for a catch.Shikhar Dhawan had a long net, which is indication that he will open in KL Rahul’s absence though Gautam Gambhir was brought into the squad. That much was clear because as soon as the first Test finished in Kanpur, batting coach Sanjay Bangar and Kumble arranged a practice session for Dhawan on the fifth-day pitch at Green Park.Kumble, though, welcomed Gambhir back into the squad. “I think it’s really nice to have Gautam back,” Kumble said in Kolkata. “Unfortunately Rahul got injured in the last Test match. I think for some reason something has been happening with the openers. Vijay got injured in West Indies. Now Rahul. It’s unfortunate because Rahul was batting brilliantly. Having said that, Gautam has done really well in domestic cricket. He’s part of the 15. I don’t want to give away anything with regard to team combinations.”Rohit Sharma, whose place in the side is always debated, might have earned breathing space with a half-century in the second innings in Kanpur, but Kumble has not forgotten the shot he played in the first innings to throw away a start of 35.”Generally over the last one year, we have constantly gone with five bowlers but in the last Test match we felt that four bowlers and the additional batsman was important, and that’s why Rohit came into the team at No. 6,” Kumble said. “Him batting well certainly augurs well for us. In the first innings, obviously he was disappointed with the way he got out. That’s something which he is aware of and when he played in the second innings, it was a brilliant innings.”That knock, with Jadeja in that partnership of 100-plus, was crucial as well for us to take the game away from the New Zealanders and ensure that we dominate that session. That momentum got carried over when we went on to bowl as well. So in that sense, Rohit contributing was a huge boost for not just the team, but I’m sure it would have done a lot of good for his confidence.”Whether India play five bowlers or four, and how comfortable Ashwin feels, will only be known during and after their final training session before the Test. The conditions on the eve of the match will also play an important role, though Kumble said he wasn’t worried about them.”I still haven’t had a look at the pitch,” he said. “Yes it’s early in the season, there’s been a lot of rain in the air and I hope rain doesn’t play spoilsport during the Test match. It will be a good wicket. I’ve spoken about this before the start of the series too – that whatever wicket is there, we have the squad to encounter any challenge and adapt to any conditions. So we’re not really worried too much about the pitch and what it can do, what it cannot do. We have all bases covered.”

ScorecardAndy Carter stormed back to Trent Bridge•Getty Images

Discovering Nottinghamshire hanging around at the wrong end of the First Division is like finding the flash guy with the top-of-the-range BMW drinking in the cheapest pub in town. No matter how much you remind yourself he is loaded you can’t avoid noticing in the corner of your eye the unexpected scrambling for enough change for another bag of pork scratchings.Nottinghamshire are heading for Twenty20 finals day on Saturday. Among the most glamorous of county cricket’s limited-overs side they finally have a chance to claim a T20 trophy that has long seemed overdue. But four-day cricket is a less endearing story. It is entirely possible they could go to Edgbaston uncomfortably placed at the bottom of the Championship.Midway through this match, Hampshire lead by 180 with nine second-innings wickets intact, a position made more secure in the final session by Jimmy Adams’ unbeaten 68.”The plan now is bat and bat,” said Liam Dawson. “We’ll look to bat all day and see where it takes us.” They might be bottom but that they have the capacity to grind out a batting day is beyond doubt.A Hampshire victory would send them above Notts in the table. Such an outcome would not just cause shivers in the East Midlands. Hampshire have long presumed to be relegation fodder and a victory would cause consternation for Surrey, Lancashire and Durham. Suddenly, the First Division relegation outcome would look likely to be contested deep into September.Quite how Nottinghamshire succumbed for 245, 74 behind on first innings, must have been a mystery for their combative captain, Chris Read, whose counter-attacking, unbeaten 70, full of attractive off-side drives, prevented total calamity. It was Family Fun day at Trent Bridge but only Read seemed to want to do much colouring in. He seems to have been staving off Nottinghamshire collapses for a lifetime and, by rights, his boyish dash should have been exhausted years ago.To make matters worse, Nottinghamshire’s morning collapse, in which they lost five for 77 in decent batting conditions, was engineered by Andy Carter, whose gangling pace bowling used to be at Notts’ service until he rejected a new contract and decamped to Derbyshire at the end of last season, only to abandon that in disgust after half a season because of his lack of Championship opportunities to join Hampshire, who at that point had so many injured fast bowlers they were almost reduced to looking for solutions in a Tesco bargain bucket.Read considered a bad day with consummate understatement. One day he will surely crack, grab everybody by the throat and promptly announce his retirement. Until then he merely said: “It was a disappointing morning session and ultimately, although it was a good fightback to get to 245, we were somewhat lacking in first innings’ runs.”Andy Carter bowled nicely. We all like Andy here at Notts and we’ve fond memories of his time with us. Unfortunately for us he chose this moment to bowl a good opening spell. We’ve not batted well all season; it’s one area we are trying to improve. We are working exceptionally hard behind the scenes to put things right but again we came unstuck.”Hampshire went into the match with only Ryan McLaren taking his Championship wickets under 40s, but Carter’s debut gave them a bowler eminently capable of a hot spell or two, his Derbyshire return of six wickets for 73.33 best overlooked. An incisive pre-lunch spell underlined that as he removed three former team-mates for six runs in 12 deliveries.The nightwatchman, Jake Ball, hit his first delivery to Adam Wheater at midwicket, Riki Wessels found a bouncer from a former team-mate irresistible and holed out, fourth ball, at deep square leg, and Steven Mullaney chopped a rising delivery onto his stumps. Wessels has had an eye-catching one-day season and strange things can happen to an attacking player met by an old team-mate who bangs one in and suggests: “Go on then, try to hit that for old time’s sake.”When you need to dig in, Brendon Taylor is not your man. Neither does he immediately strike you as the sort of high-profile signing you want in a relegation battle. Since abandoning an unpredictable international career with Zimbabwe for the security of county cricket, he has produced the occasional destructive innings alongside rather too many lax dismissals to earn admiration in his new homeland.He fell to a good catch by Mason Crane at midwicket, off Gareth Berg, and soon afterwards Notts were 91 for 6 when Samit Patel was lbw, struck on the boot by Brad Wheal and hobbled off. He was the hero of Notts’ NatWest Blast quarter-final win and the crowd rose to him with great fondness, which was nice to see, but the sense will forever remain that it is impossible for Samit to cross the road without the intervention of a couple of moments of tragi-comedy.That left Read to find support from Michael Lumb – a restrained innings ending when he edged an attempted pull and became a fourth wicket for Carter – and some tail-end spanking from Luke Wood and, more unexpectedly, Imran Tahir, helped by a missed stumping off Dawson. Wood was unhinged by a short ball from McLaren which deflected off bat and helmet. Carter’s simple catch in the leg-side allowed Dawson to wrap up the innings with wickets in successive balls. Hampshire are still kicking for all they are worth.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsChadwick Walton hit nine fours and five sixes in his 54-ball 97•Getty Images

Chadwick Walton slammed 97 as Jamaica Tallawahs beat Barbados Tridents by 36 runs in a rain-affected fixture in Kingston to qualify for the final of CPL 2016.After rain lashed down on Kingston for over an hour to reduce the match to an 18-overs-a-side affair, Tallawahs amassed 195 for 5, largely thanks to a second-wicket stand of 127 between Walton and Kumar Sangakkara, who made a 31-ball 50.In reply, Tridents slipped to 55 for 4 in the eighth over, before Nicholas Pooran mounted a spirited fightback, bringing up the fastest half-century this season, off 23 balls. But as the asking rate crept up to over 15 runs an over less than halfway into the chase, Tridents were left with no option but to go for broke. They were bowled out for 159 in the final over.”Winning the toss was a good decision, but we didn’t bowl well, and so we deserve to be on the losing side,” Tridents captain Kieron Pollard said after the match. “You can’t bowl contrary to what your plans are and still end up winning. We have had a few guys injured, but we can’t use that as an excuse. Guys who get an opportunity should show why they deserve to be in the XI. We can’t slip up going into the business end. Hopefully this is another learning experience for us and we’ll look to fight another day.”Tridents had an early boost when Ravi Rampaul removed Chris Gayle in the third over of the match. For the next hour, though, they came under Walton’s wheel. The opener, who had topped 20 just once this season, struck nine fours and five sixes over the course of his 54-ball knock, before being caught at long-on in an attempt to clear the ropes and bring up his maiden T20 century.Andre Russell, promoted to No. 4, was out first ball to David Wiese, but Rovman Powell lent the finishing touches with one four and four sixes in his unbeaten 14-ball 34 as Tallawahs smashed 44 off the last three overs.Tridents came out swinging and lost their openers – Shai Hope and Ahmed Shehzad – inside five overs as Dale Steyn and Andre Russell got among the wickets. Pacer Timroy Allen then struck twin blows, including that of Shoaib Malik, to leave Tridents in tatters at 55 for 4.Pooran and Pollard kept the innings ticking along, before the pressure of bringing out the big shots resulted in Pollard falling into the short-ball trap set by Steyn. Two balls later, Steyn had his 200th T20 wicket when fellow South African David Wiese chipped one to Gayle at midwicket to leave Tridents at 90 for 6.Pooran then muscled his way to six meaty sixes before his run-out deflated Tridents’ chase. Steyn finished with 4 for 27 as Tallawahs secured a final berth in front of adoring home fans. The visitors, meanwhile, slipped to their third loss in seven matches.

ScorecardLuke Wells was in the runs for Sussex•Getty Images

Luke Wells and Ben Brown both made big hundreds as Sussex piled on the runs against Glamorgan on the third day of their Specsavers County Championship match at Hove.Wells scored 181 and Brown an undefeated 159 as they shared a partnership of 294 in 73.1 overs, the second-highest for the fifth wicket in Sussex’s history.But a turgid pitch still looks like being the only winner. After declaring with a first-innings lead of 217 on 552 for five, Steve Magoffintrapped Nick Selman lbw in the seventh over but Mark Wallace and nightwatchman Owen Morgan saw Glamorgan to 30 for one at stumps, 187 behind.Glamorgan paid a heavy price for handing Wells a life on 56 when he was missed at second slip by Aneurin Donald off Tim van der Gugten. He didn’t offer a chance thereafter as he reached his third hundred of the season.Brown gave him excellent support as he rediscovered the form which brought him 1,031 Championship runs in Division One last season, but their task was made easier by a surface on which batting was relatively straightforward.Glamorgan plugged away but their fast-bowling spearhead Michael Hogan was restricted to 10 overs as he continued to recover from mild concussion when he was hit on the helmet on the second day.Graham Wagg did remove Luke Wright for 19 when the Sussex captain lost his off stump playing no shot but Sussex accumulated remorselessly after that as Wells and Brown set a new record for any wicket against Glamorgan, beating the 281 by John Langridge and Harry Parks at Eastbourne in 1938.Wells guided van der Gugten through the vacant slip area for his 10th four to reach his century and Brown got to his off the last ball before tea when he cut slow left-armer Morgan to the point boundary.As Wells inevitably tired towards the end of an innings which ended four minutes short of seven hours, Brown upped the tempo after tea as Sussex sped towards their declaration.A dab to the third-man fence took him to 150 for only the second time in his career. Wells then struck a straight six – only the 16th of his career – before offering a sharp return catch to Morgan off the next ball. Wells’ 181 came off343 balls and he also hit 18 fours.Brown’s 159 not out was only four short of his career best and came off 225 balls with 15 fours and a maximum.With skipper Jacques Rudolph nursing a badly bruised hand, Glamorgan’s 46-year-old coach Robert Croft was among five substitute fielders employed.