Hampshire vs Sussex

From Grace Road to Utilita Bowl, Sussex commenced and curtail their Rothesay County Championship campaign on the road looking to end things on a high in Hampshire following a fine victory over Nottinghamshire last time out.

Yes, a strong win it was over the last season's red ball champions. A seven-wicket win in the end courtesy of some outstanding bowling and a touch of class and nous with the bat. Ari Karvelas picked up a five-fer in what has been a remarkable return to the side, as Sussex severely dented Nottinghamshire's hopes of back-to-back championships.

Ollie Robinson returns from his dream summer with the England Test side to bolster the attack in the final outing of the year, as Paul Farbrace completes his tenure as Head Coach with a short hop over the county border to face already-relegated Hampshire.

Team News

So, Ollie's back. Fresh off the back of taking 28 wickets at an incredible average of 9.32 in his four Test appearances against New Zealand and Pakistan this summer, Robinson returns to the side.

Dan Hughes also returns to the squad having missed the previous two red ball outings through injury. Henry Crocombe is away on international duty with England's ODI squad, and so misses out.

Squad: Carson, Carter, Clark, Coles, Goodman, Haines, Hughes, Hunt, Ibrahim, Karvelas, Leaning, T Price, Robinson, Simpson, Tear, Thomas, Unadkat.

The Opposition

Despite avoiding relegation in dramatic style last year, Hampshire find themselves out of luck and out of time following confirmation last week that they will be playing in Division Two next season. A disappointing campaign, then, with the red ball for Russell Domingo's side, who have picked up just four batting bonus points all season.

Therein lies the issue, yet arguable their finest win of the year came at Hove in the County Championship back in June, and they were good for it, too. That was their previous victory in the competition, some six matches and 94 days ago, with their only other win coming at Yorkshire in the second match of the seaosn.

Runs may have dried up for the county west along the A27, but in Jake Lehmann, who has since returned to Australia, they have division's third-highest run scorer this year. 965 runs scored at an average of 48.25 are fantastic number for the overseas batter who, alongside Nick Gubbins, have racked up a solid number of runs. 

And, with the ball: the imperious Kyle Abbott. 62 wickets thus far at an outrageous average of 15.80 has given Hampshire plenty of hope in matches this season, with the county's next highest wicket-taker in Sonny Baker (29) who has featured in just eight matches, and is an absentee for tomorrow, too.

Tickets

Tickets for all four days are available via Hampshire's website, which can be accessed by clicking this link.

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