Steve Smith impresses on home Sussex debut – Australian star is ‘chilled out’ at the crease, says team-mate

The Test star drew a higher-than-usual crowd and scored an unbeaten 68 on the first day of Sussex’s county championship clash with Glamorgan, which ended with the home side on 221-4 after bowling out the Welsh side for 123, with England’s Ollie Robinson taking 4-29.

Smith was out for 89 on day two, lbw to James Harris, as Sussex extended their lead.

Haines, who put on 48 with Smith before being out for 58, said: “It was a good day for us. We bowled well and put it in the right area for long periods. We bowled in partnerships and managed to get our rewards, which was nice.

“It’s a massive bonus having Ollie Robinson in the side. He’s a world-class bowler. We can guarantee three or four wickets when we chuck him the ball. It was tough on the team to see him get 14 wickets in the other match and we didn’t go on to win. But today we bowled as a four-man attack.

“It was weird today. For the first ten or so overs of the game the new ball skidded on and we thought it would be a long day in the field. But then the shine came off the ball and it started swinging and nipping a bit more and we started to bowl well.

“I’ve had a knee niggle for the past three weeks. But I didn’t want to miss another game. But we haven’t got another four-day game for a while so I thought I would play. I wanted to play.

"To get a few today was nice. It’s great batting with Steve Smith. He’s very chilled out in the middle. We had a nice partnership to help the team.

“It’s amazing to have two world class batsmen in the team (Smith and Chet Pujara) and hopefully we can get a result.”

Smith scored his first meaningful runs for Sussex in his third and final match for the county before the Ashes series gets under way in four weeks.

Before this Smith had played just two innings for Sussex, making 30 at Worcester and three at Leicester.

Before the start of play Smith and the Sussex vice-captain Tom Alsop were handed their county caps by former captain Chris Adams. Smith steadied the Sussex innings after the loss of three wickets in four overs, featuring in important stands with Haines, who made 58, and James Coles (50 not out). Smith faced 126 deliveries and struck nine fours.

Earlier, England seamer Robinson had maintained his fine form with figures of 4-29 as Glamorgan, who had been put in, were bowled out for just 123 on a pitch offering some seam movement and occasional surprising bounce for the taller bowlers.

Both sides went into this match unbeaten, with one win in five. Sussex welcomed back Robinson, who had missed last week’s Leicestershire game after taking a career best 14 for 117 in the previous game against Worcestershire, and he dismissed Glamorgan’s the two Australia Test players Marnus Labuschagne and Michael Neser.

Haines also returned, with Jack Carson coming in for Henry Crocombe. Glamorgan were led by Kiran Carlson in the absence of hamstring victim David Lloyd and the county gave a first-class debut to Zain-ul-Hassan, who had played second eleven cricket for a number of counties.

Despite starting off against Robinson, ul-Hussain looked composed and in the event was the only Glamorgan top-order batsman to reach double figures, with the highest score (28 not out) coming from tail-ender James Harris.

After making a steady start, Glamorgan – without a win at Hove since 1975 - lost all their wickets for 99 runs in the space of 28 overs, with Ari Karvelas (3-30), in his second game of the season, the other main wicket-taker. Eddie Byrom – dropped behind by Oli Carter off Karvelas on four – added just one run before he fell to the same combination, surprised by extra bounce. Then Robinson made his first strike when he had Labuschagne lbw for a three-ball single – it was his first delivery to the Australian.

Robinson’s impressive first spell was 6-3-10-1 and when he was replaced at Cromwell Road end Fynn Hudson-Prentice struck immediately when he had Sam Northeast comfortably caught at third slip; 31-3. It was 41-4 when ul-Hassan was caught behind off the skiddy Haines and 63-5 when Billy Root, who had driven some exuberant boundaries, was bowled for a 17-ball 18, deciding to leave a ball from the same bowler. Carlson also decided to play no stroke when Robinson returned for a second spell and bowled him with his third ball.

Glamorgan can bat deep but there would be no recovery as the Sussex bowlers continued to bowl full and straight and they were all out in 37.4 overs.

Sussex replied aggressively, with Ali Orr and Haines putting on 76 before the former was bowled by Jamie McIlroy offering no stroke. Alsop followed in the next over, lbw to Neser, and Sussex had lost three wickets for seven runs when captain Chet Pujara was dismissed in the same way, his first championship duck for Sussex after three centuries this season.

But Smith and Haines added 48 for the fourth wicket before a stand of 90 between Smith and Coles put Sussex well ahead in the game.