Aaron Thomason in squad for trip to Kidderminster

A day later and at a different venue than planned, Sussex begin their Specsavers County Championship match against Worcestershire at Kidderminster Cricket Club on Tuesday.

There is one change to the 13-man squad announced ahead of last week’s draw with Gloucestershire, with new-signing Aaron Thomason replacing the injured Mir Hamza.  

A bright spot amongst the rain clouds that dominated that match at Arundel Castle was Will Beer’s 97 after he’d been drafted in as a makeshift opener.

That, along with half-centuries for Stiaan van Zyl and David Wiese, helped Sussex secure three batting points, to go with two bowling points. Combined with the five awarded for a draw, that meant the team took ten points in total from the match.

Sussex sit in third place in division two, 11 points clear of Derbyshire in fourth, just one point behind Glamorgan in second and ten points off Lancashire at the top of the table.

Ahead of the trip to Worcestershire, Sussex head coach, Jason Gillespie said: “We’d love to have been playing at New Road this week, but we’ve all seen the photos of the ground, so the decision to move the fixture was obviously beyond anyone’s control.

“Kidderminster is a lovely ground as well and we’re looking forward to playing there against a fantastic Worcestershire side that has plenty of fine players.

“We’re playing some pretty good cricket at the moment and if we stay switched on and continue our consistent, good performances, we can go a long way towards a successful week.

“Mir Hamza is still experiencing stiffness in his back, so drops out of our squad. We’re confident he’ll be ready for next week’s match.

“Our new signing, Aaron Thomason, comes straight into the squad and we wish him a very warm welcome.”

Sussex Squad

Ben Brown (c/wk), Will Beer, Danny Briggs, Laurie Evans, Harry Finch, Tom Haines, Chris Jordan, Ollie Robinson, Abi Sakande, Aaron Thomason, Stiaan van Zyl, Luke Wells, David Wiese

Opposition

Alongside every other county in the division, Worcestershire had their last match against Lancashire ruined by the weather. That denied a potentially mouth-watering contest between the two sides relegated from the top-flight last season. Looking on the bright side, a draw did at least halt a slump in form for Worcestershire, who after wins in their opening two matches against Leicestershire and Durham, then succumbed to defeats against Lancashire and Middlesex.

All that means that after five matches, Worcestershire sit in sixth place, although they do have a game in hand over eight of the nine other teams in the table.

The side’s batsmen have struggled for consistency, with four players making centuries this season, but only two with over 200 runs in total. Ben Cox leads the way with 236 from his eight innings so far.

Charlie Morris has been the most prolific of the Pears’ bowlers, with 25 scalps placing him joint third overall on the division two wicket-takers list.

Squad: Leach (capt.) Mitchell, Dell, Ferguson, Wessels, Whiteley, Barnard, Cox (wk), Parnell, Morris, Finch, D’Oliveira

Match Details

Play at Kidderminster is scheduled to begin at 11am on all four days of the match. Ticket are available in advance from the Worcestershire County Cricket Club website, or in person at the ground from 9am on each day’s play.

Supporters unable to attend can follow the game via the Sussex Cricket Match Day Centre, which includes ball-by-ball commentary from BBC Sussex, a live scorecard and live statistics.  

A full spectator guide is available on the Worcestershire website.