Mir Hamza set for return against Australia 'A'

Mir Hamza is in line to make his return from injury in Sussex’s four-day match against Australia ‘A’ at Arundel Castle.

The Pakistani seamer is part of a 14-man squad named for the first-class fixture that starts on Sunday. In total, there are five changes from the squad named ahead of the Specsavers County Championship match against Northamptonshire.

Ben. Brown is rested, with Kent wicketkeeper Adam Rouse set to take his place behind the stumps having been given permission to play for Sussex in the fixture.

Stiaan van Zyl continues to recover from his elbow injury, with Harry Finch and Tom Haines recalled to the squad.

After a heavy workload in recent weeks, Chris Jordan, Ollie Robinson and David Wiese are also rested. Alongside Hamza, fellow left-arm seamer Adam Barton - who played two first-class matches for Sussex in 2017 - is added to the squad.

Sussex assistant coach Jason Swift – who is in charge for the fixture – said: “The schedule has been pretty hectic of late, so we’ve decided to give a number of our seamers a good rest to make sure they’re fresh for our next Championship match. It’s great to have Mir back to fitness and to give him a run out before that trip to Old Trafford.

“In terms of a rest, the same applies to Browny who has played every game so far, spent a lot of time batting and kept to pretty much every ball we’ve bowled. A warm welcome to Adam Rouse from Kent who will take Ben’s place for this match.”

“This is a great opportunity for the boys to test themselves against a high-quality Australia A side, a number of whom could be playing in this summer’s Ashes series.

“We’ve had a bit of a tough time of late, but this is a good chance for the guys to spend decent time out in the middle and express themselves away from Championship cricket.

“Everybody enjoys going to Arundel. It’s a stunning setting to play and watch cricket in and with the weather set fair and a good crowd expected, it should be a really good week over there.”

Sussex Squad

Luke Wells (capt.), Adam Barton, Will Beer, Varun Chopra, Laurie Evans, Harry Finch, Tom Haines, Mir Hamza, Aneesh Kapil, Delray Rawlins, Adam Rouse (wk), Abi Sakande, Phil Salt, Aaron Thomason,

Australia ‘A’ Team

Jackson Bird, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Josh Hazelwood, Jon Holland, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Kurtis Patterson, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Matthew Wade

Match Details

Gates open at 9am on all four days, with play scheduled to start at 11.30am. Directions to the ground are available here.  

Tickets are available on the day only. Please note this is a cash only fixture. Ticket prices are available in the document below.

Parking is available to purchase at the ground at a cost of £5 for Sussex Cricket and FACCC members and £10 for non-members.

Those unable to attend the match can follow all the action on the Sussex Cricket Match Day Centre. Please note, as this match is not at The 1st Central County Ground, no livestream will be available. There will be the usual ball-by-ball commentary from BBC Sussex, which can be found on Sussex Cricket Match Day Centre.