Middlesex vs Sussex Sharks

Nearing the end of the Vitality Blast campaign for the Sharks, this penultimate fixture sees Paul Farbrace's side journey up to Merchant Taylors' School, playing guests to Middlesex on Friday.

It's a quick turnaround for the Sharks, having fought hard against Surrey at Kia Oval last night albeit in defeat. In a match with little to play for in terms of a quarter-final on offer for Sussex, changes were made to the XI with George Thomas keeping his place in the side, and looking good for it, too, as well as Tom Price returning to the team.

Thomas made 57 from 27 deliveries - a new T20 High Score - before a late James Coles cameo propped Sussex's total up to 176. Sean Hunt would go on to take the only two Sussex wickets as Jason Roy stole the spotlight with a magnificent 103*, scoring the winning runs at the same time as reaching his century to compound the Sharks to defeat.

Two games remain: Middlesex tomorrow before returning to Hove for the finale against Hampshire. There's still time, then, to finish this Vitality Blast campaign on a high.

Team News

James Coles was released from the England squad to feature in Wednesday's squad for the Oval, but he meets up with his England teammates again, and so is not available for selection.

Oli Carter, Henry Crocombe and John Simpson all miss out again from tomorrow's 13-player squad, with Ollie Robinson still recovering from injury. Danny Lamb, too, is a long-term absentee through injury.

Men's Squad: Alsop, Briggs, Carson, Goodman, Hughes, Hunt, Ibrahim, Leaning, Mills, Price, Tear, Thomas, Ward.

The Opposition 

It hasn't quite gone to plan for Middlesex in this competition, either, though they came away from the Utilita Bowl last night with a surprise victory as they look to similarly end the campaign on a positive.

It was their third win of the Blast, with the other two coming against the Sharks a few weeks ago, as well as victory over Essex prior to the Hampshire victory. It's two wins on the bounce for Middlesex, then, who have bowled exceptionally in both matches. Zafar Gohar and Luke Hollman bowled brilliantly at Hampshire last night, with the latter the club's joint-leading wicket-taker in the competition this year with 10. Tom Helm, too, also has 10 wickets to his name.

With big-scoring innings in short supply, the batting has restricted Middlesex to not progressing deeper into the tournament. Max Holden has registered the most runs for the side this year, with 221 runs scored and a High Score of 77.

How to Watch

You can watch every ball, free of charge, via our Match Centre (on our website). You will need to register for a free account to access the stream, statistics, replays and live scorecard. 

The game gets underway at 5pm at Merchant Taylors' School.

Tickets

Tickets for this meeting with Middlesex are available to purchase here.