Sharks look to bite back against Surrey

*Important spectator information for the match is available here*

Sussex Sharks have the opportunity to return to winning ways in the Vitality Blast when Surrey visit The 1st Central County Ground on Sunday afternoon (2.30pm start).

After suffering their first defeat of the competition against Gloucestershire on Friday night, the Sharks go into the match against the South Londoners in fourth place in the South Group.

Luke Wright’s men have nine points from seven matches, one fewer than Surrey (eight matches) and three behind Kent Spitfires (eight) and leaders Gloucestershire (nine).

There is one change to the Sharks squad for Sunday’s match, with Chris Jordan returning from international duty and replacing George Garton who joins up with the England squad for their ODI series against Sri Lanka.

Sussex T20 Head Coach James Kirtley is delighted to see Jordan return but won’t be putting him under any pressure to play immediately. “We’d love CJ to play in our team [on Sunday] but we know full well the stresses and strains of playing international T20 cricket,” he said.

“If we can have CJ at his best then we’ll play him on Sunday, but if we feel we’re more likely to get match-winning performances from him by not rushing him back then we’ll make that call.”

On the Gloucestershire defeat, Kirtley said, “We were a little rusty. It shows what happens when you lose a bit of momentum [Sussex had their three previous fixtures washed out].

“We tried to utilise Second XI Finals Day to give one or two players some game time, but its very hard to recreate the same intensity as a Blast match.

“I think we were just a little bit off the pace in our mental game [on Friday]. The lads have been open and talked well after the defeat. I’ve talked about embracing the knocks and we’re having the conversations about why it didn’t quite go right and how we’re going to put it right.

“We’ve got four games in six days coming up and we’ve got a chance to put ourselves in a really good position before the tournament pauses for a Championship game.”

Sussex squad

Luke Wright (captain), Will Beer, Ravi Bopara, Oli Carter, Henry Crocombe, Travis Head (overseas, Australia), Chris Jordan, Archie Lenham, Tymal Mills, Delray Rawlins, Ollie Robinson, Phil Salt, Aaron Thomason, David Wiese (overseas, South Africa)

Surrey

Like Sussex, Surrey won their opening three matches in this year's Blast, Also like Sussex, they then suffered a loss of momentum after their next two matches were rained off. That - and the loss off a number of key players to England duty - led to defeats against Essex and Somerset earlier this week. Gareth Batty's men bounced back on Friday night with a five-wicket win against strugglers Middlesex, however.

Ollie Pope - playing his first match of the campaign having been on Test duty and then forced to self-isolate after close contact with a COVID-19 case - top-scored for Surrey with 52 from 35 balls. Gus Atkinson took four wickets with his medium pace in , while Will Jacks conceded just seven runs from his two overs of off-spin, as well as picking up two wickets.

Will Jacks

It is with the bat where Jacks has been most impactful in the tournament so far, however. He has 241 runs  and a strike rate of 185 from his seven outings to date. The other main contributors with the bat so far have been Sam Curran and Jason Roy, both unavailable on Sunday through international duty.

The younger Curran brother is also Surrey's joint leading wicket-taker. He and the still present Dan Moriarty have six wickets each. Atkinson has five, while Batty and all-rounder Jordan Clark have four each. 

Surrey squad: TBA

Starting XI in last match: Will Jacks, Jamie Smith+, Laurie Evans, Ollie Pope, Rory Burns, Jordan Clark, Jamie Overton, Kyle Jamieson (overseas, New Zealand), Gus Atkinson, Gareth Batty*, Dan Moriarty. 

Match information

Sunday's fixture against Surrey at The 1st Central County Ground is scheduled to begin at 2.30pm. Tickets for this match are SOLD OUT.

If you are coming to the match, please read this important information for spectators.

If you can’t make the game, a live stream will be available on the Sussex Cricket Match Centre, alongside a video scorecard and live statistics. Commentary on the stream comes from BBC Sussex, who will also be broadcasting the match live on their DAB station. 

Many thanks to match sponsor Dentalbuild for their support.