Partnership with Oxfordshire Cricket extended

Sussex Cricket and Oxfordshire Cricket are delighted to announce the extension of their partnership for a further five years.

Since 2013, the partnership has ensured a sustainable and high-performing talent development system in Oxfordshire that gives the county’s young players the best chance of fulfilling their ambitions of joining the Sussex Academy and professional staff. This extension ensures that this will continue until at least 2026.

The success of the partnership to date has been demonstrated by the introduction of Oxfordshire’s pathway products, James Coles and Harrison Ward into Sussex’s men’s first team over the last two seasons. A number of young Oxfordshire players have also been part of the Sussex Academy, with more expected in the next intake. The introduction of the ECB’s dual registration process enabled Freddie Smith and Zach Lion-Cachet to play for Sussex's U18 and men’s second teams. Dylan Driscoll and Kalan Niyarepola also represented Sussex’s U15 age group.

As part of the programme, Sussex coaches support their Oxfordshire colleagues with player development, attending Emerging Players Programme sessions and providing advice. This aspect of the partnership was recently praised by Oxfordshire Men’s Head Coach, Rupert Evans.

Sussex also provides financial support to help fund Oxfordshire’s talent development programmes and the programme's coaching staff, led by Performance Director, Matthew Barnes and Partnership Support Coach, Alan Duncan.

Commenting on the extension of the partnership, Sussex’s Performance Director, Keith Greenfield said: “We are so pleased that our partnership will be able to continue on its journey. There has been so much work put in over the last eight years and to know we have a further five years’ work to do is great.

“The partnership doubles the size of our own playing pool but also means Oxfordshire Cricket receives the staff and resources for it to continue to be the best National County programme for players and staff.

“This is hugely important and a key priority in our strategy of producing quality first-class and international cricketers from within our own pathway systems. We are already seeing elite players joining the club like James Coles.

“I look forward to continuing to work closely with Chris Clements, Matthew Barnes, Alan Duncan and our other local partners in Oxfordshire.”

Sussex’s Chief Executive, Rob Andrew added: “It’s brilliant to be continuing what has been a very fruitful partnership. We’re already seeing the impact our cooperation is having on cricket in both counties, with young cricketers in Oxfordshire benefitting from top-class development opportunities and us at Sussex Cricket reaping the benefits as players like James and Harrison emerge in the professional arena. I am confident we’ll see more young Oxfordshire cricketers follow in their footsteps in the next few years.”

Oxfordshire Cricket’s Chairman, Chris Clements said: “We feel very privileged as a National County to be able to extend our partnership with Sussex for the next five years.

“The whole Oxfordshire Cricket community has seen the visible impact on our talent pipeline, which is now regularly populating our NCCA squad. Nine of the squad that played in the NCCA Final were Oxfordshire qualified players and six of those came through our pathway system.

“We look forward to working closely with Keith Greenfield, Rob Andrew and their coaching team in the years ahead.''

Oxfordshire Cricket’s Performance Director, Matthew Barnes added: “The partnership between Oxfordshire Cricket and Sussex Cricket has spanned eight years since its inception back in 2013, and we are delighted that our relationship will be continuing for a further five years.

"The forging of the partnership extension will further enable us to achieve our vision for a sustainable and high-performing talent development system and will be pivotal in enabling players from Oxfordshire to fulfil their ambition of becoming first-class cricketers with Sussex.

"We very much look forward to an exciting and prosperous future working together with Sussex Cricket, and are delighted to announce the news of the partnership extension to our stakeholders and wider cricketing community.”