County Championship group stage fixtures announced

Next season is starting to take shape with full details of Sussex’s group games in the 2021 County Championship released today (Thursday 17th December).

As previously announced, Sussex are playing alongside Glamorgan, Kent, Lancashire, Northamptonshire and Yorkshire in group three of the seeded group stage of the competition.

Ian Salisbury’s men will kick-off the campaign with the visit of Lancashire to The 1st Central County Ground from Thursday 8th to Sunday 11th April.

A trip to Sophia Gardens to take on Glamorgan follows between Thursday 15th and Sunday 18th April, before Yorkshire come to Hove for the first time since 2015 from Thursday 22nd to Sunday 25th April.

Skipper Ben Brown, Chris Jordan and Ollie Robinson are the only current Sussex four-day players who also featured during the White Rose county’s last visit.

The return fixture against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford takes place between Thursday 29th April and Sunday 2nd May with a trip to Northamptonshire from Thursday 6th May to Sunday 9th May making it two away games in a row.

Consecutive home games at The 1st Central County Ground against Kent (Thursday 13th to Sunday 16th May) and Northamptonshire (Thursday 27th to Sunday 30th May) are next.

Thursday 3rd June to Sunday 6th June sees Sussex head to Headingley – again for the first time in six seasons – to play Yorkshire, before the Championship pauses for the rest of June.

Action restarts on Sunday 4th July when Glamorgan visit The 1st Central County Ground for four days. The group stage concludes between Sunday 11th and Wednesday 15th July when Sussex meet Kent at Beckenham for just their second ever first-class match at the South London venue and their first since Kent’s nine-wicket win in July 1893.

At this point, the top two teams from each group will go into division one, third and fourth into division two and fifth and sixth into division three for another four matches  – two at home and two away. These will be played on Monday 30th August to Thursday 2nd September, Sunday 5th to Wednesday 8th September, Sunday 12th to Wednesday 15th September and Tuesday 21st to Friday 24th September.

The winner of division one will be crowned 2021 County Champions, before taking on the runners up in a five-day match at Lord’s between Monday 27th September and Friday 1st October.

The 1st Central County Ground is currently listed as the venue for all of Sussex’s home matches in the competition, but it is hoped that it will be possible to play one match at Arundel Castle subject to the COVID-19 situation.   

Sussex’s remaining fixtures for the 2021 season in the Vitality Blast and Royal London Cup will be announced in the New Year.

All fixtures will be available as and when they are released here. 

Latest details of membership and ticketing sales for 2021 can be found here.