Luke Wright’s seventh T20 hundred was not enough as Sussex Sharks lost by 18 runs to Glamorgan as this season’s NatWest T20 Blast began with a run-fest at sun-drenched Arundel.

Wright made 101 from 53 balls but Sussex came up short in their chase of Glamorgan’s 198-3, finishing on 180-6.

Glamorgan’s first win in Sussex in the competition was not quite down to one man but South African Colin Ingram was probably the difference between the teams.

Ross Taylor’s decision to bowl first in his first game as Sussex captain looked a good one when Glamorgan were reduced to 24-2 in the sixth over.

He opened with left-arm spinner Danny Briggs and Briggs took a wicket with his seventh ball while Jofra Archer forced David Lloyd to play on.

Ingram played quietly at first but his stand with Jacques Rudolph gathered spectacular momentum between the tenth and 17th overs when they plundered 98 runs, putting on 130 from 71 balls for the third wicket, the third-highest partnership in Glamorgan’s T20 history.

There was a blizzard of sizes from both South Africans and even when Rudolph was caught behind off Chris Jordan for 49 the momentum was maintained at the end by Chris Cooke, who smacked 35 off 16 balls.

Only Briggs (1-28) and David Wiese (0-34) escaped punishment. Ingram reached his ton in the penultimate over and his 101 from 47 deliveries, with seven sixes and five fours, was the quickest in the format by a Glamorgan batsman.

Sussex were effectively chasing ten an over, not insurmountable on a flat pitch with a lightning-quick outfield but they lost Chris Nash and Stiaan van Zyl to successive balls from Mick Hogan with the score on 22 to stall any early charge.

Ingram came on to bowl his leg breaks and found enough turn to unsettle the batsmen. Taylor was taken off a big top edge for 17 just when it looked like he and Wright were kick-starting the chase and Ingram picked up his second wicket when Ben Brown, who had been recalled earlier in his innings, after Cooke completed a stumping with his hands in front of the wicket, holed out to deep mid-wicket.

Wright pressed on and reached his hundred in the last over, having struck seven sixes and five fours.

Marchant de Lange thought he had taken a catch off Wright on the long-on boundary but admitted his foot had gone over the rope and Wright cashed in on his good fortune. He holed out in the last over when Sussex needed 24 runs – too much with Hogan bowling superbly at the death.

Coach Mark Davis admitted afterwards that it was their bowlers, particularly those operating in the middle overs, who had not executed their skills well enough but with 13 games to go, starting against Hampshire at Hove on Wednesday, there is plenty of time for the Sharks to grow into the tournament.

Davis said: “We were slightly off colour with the ball today. I feel we didn’t execute our skills as well as we have and can do. I felt 198 was probably too many, especially after the power-play when we had them 24-2 after six. But Ingram played an outstanding innings.”

Tymal Mills missed out while he recovers from a hamstring injury but bowled in the nets and should be back soon, although Wednesday’s south coast clash might come too quickly.