New faces in squad for Glamorgan Championship squad

*Important spectator information for the match is available here*

Sussex resume their LV= Insurance County Championship campaign on Sunday when Glamorgan visit The 1st Central County Ground.

Ian Salisbury has named a 13-man squad for the match, with three changes from the squad announced ahead of Sussex’s previous Championship fixture. Jamie Atkins, Henry Crocombe and Tom Haines are replaced by Will Beer, Oli Carter, and Archie Lenham. Carter and Lenham are in line for a first-class debut.

A recent COVID-19 case within the squad has severely limited the number of players available to Sussex’s Championship and One Day Head Coach. Atkins, Tom Clark, James Coles, Crocombe, Haines, Sean Hunt, Delray Rawlins and Ollie Robinson are all self-isolating.

Meanwhile, George Garton is away on England duty, Chris Jordan is recovering from a groin strain and is not yet fit for four-day cricket and Phil Salt is managing a broken finger.

With two rounds remaining before the competition splits into three divisions, Sussex will be hoping to lift themselves off the bottom of the Group 3 table in a bid for as high a finish as possible in group three.

At the conclusion of the ten-match group stage, the top two teams in each of the three groups will qualify for Division 1, third and fourth for Division 2, and fifth and sixth for Division 3.

After eight rounds, the team have 71 points from one win, five defeats and two draws. They are four points behind fifth-placed Kent and 28 points behind Glamorgan in fourth.

Sussex squad

Ben Brown (captain), Will Beer, Jack Carson, Oli Carter, Mitch Claydon, Travis Head, Danial Ibrahim, Archie Lenham, Stuart Meaker, Ali Orr, Joe Sarro, Aaron Thomason, Stiaan van Zyl

View from the coach’s office

On restricted player availability: “As a club we’ve been as strict as we can on COVID protocols, including self-isolation. After the work everyone in the country has done over the last year and a half, we’re taking our responsibilities very seriously.

“Tom Haines has had an amazing year and is very frustrated not to be playing. Who knows? If he had made a couple of scores in these two upcoming games, he could have had his name up in lights in a Test match. Jamie Atkins has also been on fire in the last couple of games.

“We’ve finally got James Coles now school has finished, and he would have been in the running. Sean Hunt has worked really hard to come back from his side injury and would also have been in the reckoning.

“Phil Salt’s been playing with a broken finger. Exposing that to 20 overs is very different to four days. It’s the sensible decision to give him this week to recover.

“So, we’ve got a few people unavailable! It’s a great shame, but looking at the glass half-full, that brings opportunities for others and it will make everyone who’s missing out even more determined when they come back.”

On the new faces in the squad: “It’s fantastic to have another 16-year-old in the squad in Archie. He’s done fantastically well in the Blast and got important wickets again last night. Oli has been working so hard, doing white ball practice and at the same time making sure he’s ready for red-ball cricket. That sums him up as a cricketer – he leaves no stone unturned when it comes to preparation.”

Looking ahead to the final matches of the Championship group stage: “Nothing changes. We want to win these last two games and sneak into the second division. We’ve shown better application on days three and four in our last two games, Haines and Brown batting long against Northants and nearly batting it out against Yorkshire. So we are getting better all the time as we look to put all the pieces of the jigsaw together.

On the groundstaff’s hard work during a period of extremely wet weather: “I’ve got huge appreciation for the work Ben and his team have done both at Hove and at Blackstone. I feel massively for them and they have done everything they possibly could for us allow us to practice. Both James and I really appreciate it.”

Glamorgan

After losing two of their three opening fixtures – including a seven-wicket defeat to Sussex at Sophia Gardens – Glamorgan are unbeaten in five matches.

A win against Kent was followed by three draws before a fantastic victory over group leaders Lancashire in Glamorgan’s last match at the start of June.

In a low-scoring affair, Glamorgan’s bowling attack led by Australian overseas player Michael Neser bowled Lancashire for less than 200 twice. A nerveless 63 from just 72 balls from fellow Aussie Marnus Labuschagne steered the Welshman to a six-wicket victory.

Surprisingly that was Labuschagne’s first half-century in eight Championship innings for Glamorgan this summer: a far cry from his dominance during the 2019 season.

Glamorgan’s top-scorer in this year’s competition is Kiran Carlson, who has 580 runs at an average of 58, including two centuries and four fifties. That makes him the Championship’s ninth leading run-scorer. David Lloyd has 539 runs at 38.5 with four fifties, while captain Chris Cooke is averaging 47.75 with a total of 382 runs.

Veteran seamer, Michael Hogan is the team’s top wicket taker with 22 at an average of 22.86. Neser has been superb since arriving in Cardiff, picking up 19 wickets in just six innings at an average of less than 15. Lloyd’s medium pace has also proved useful bringing the opening batsman 18 wickets at a touch over 20.

Squad: TBA

Match information

Play is scheduled to begin at 11am on all four days of the match. Tickets for each day's play are available to purchase online only until 11am on the day in question and will be emailed soon after purchase. Membership Cards will not permit access. All supporters attending the match must have a valid match ticket. 

Important information for spectators attending is available here.

Supporters not attending the match will still be able to watch every ball via the live stream on the Sussex Cricket Match Centre. This also includes a live scorecard, video clips of key moments and match statistics.