Sharks squad arrive in Durham for Vitality Blast quarter-final

The Sussex Sharks have arrived in the North East ahead of Friday night’s Vitality Blast quarter final against Durham Jets at Emirates Riverside (6.30pm start).

The same 14-man squad selected ahead of last Friday’s final group game against Middlesex has made the trip.

The Sharks are in fine form having finished the south group in the same way that they started it; with three wins.

Sussex went into each of those final matches knowing that defeat would likely eliminate them from the competition and so can be said to have already played three knockout matches already, something that should stand the side in good stead for their first quarter final since 2015.

Phil Salt goes into the match having made 60 off 30 balls, 66 off 25 and 148 off 138 in his last three matches, the latter coming in the second innings of Sussex’s Championship victory over Derbyshire earlier this week. In the Vitality Blast so far, the 21-year-old has 321 runs from his eleven innings at a strike rate of over 170 runs per 100 balls.

Laurie Evans is the Sharks’ leading run-scorer in the tournament so far. His 491 runs at an average of 70.14 put him sixth overall in the run-scorers list and second out of those players still involved in the tournament.

On the bowling front, Jofra Archer is the Sharks’ leading wicket-taker with 17 (the same number as Rashid Khan who has now departed for international duty). Tymal Mills is one wicket away from his 100th in T20 cricket.

Tomorrow’s match will be shown live in the Long Room bar of the Spen Cama Pavilion at The 1st Central County Ground. The screening is open to all from 5.30pm and entry is free.

Carl Fillery, CEO of Sussex Sharks' shirt sponsor,Boundless commented: “As a Sussex based company we’re so proud to see the Sharks in the quarter finals of the T20 tournament. It would mean the world to us and the whole county to see them in the final. We’ll be cheering them on!”

Sussex Sharks Squad

10. Luke Wright (capt.)

22. Jofra Archer 

18. Will Beer

21. Danny Briggs

42. Tom Bruce 

5. Michael Burgess (wk.)

32. Laurie Evans

6. Harry Finch

8. Chris Jordan

7. Tymal Mills

9. Delray Rawlins

25. Ollie Robinson

28. Phil Salt

96. David Wiese

Opposition

Durham Jets finished runners up in the north group with 19 points accrued from their nine wins, one no result and three defeats.

Captain, Tom Latham is the side’s leading run-scorer with 454 runs from his 13 innings, putting him in eight position overall in the top run-scorers list and fourth out of those still involved in the tournament. Graham Clark is not too far behind with 392 runs.

Seamer, Nathan Rimmington has been the Jets’ star with the ball, taking 22 wickets, putting him second only behind Worcestershire’s Pat Brown overall. He has been quite expensive, however, with his 43.3 overs costing nearly nine runs per over each on average. Durham do, however, have three bowlers in their squad for tomorrow with economy rates of lower than seven runs per over.

After initially being ruled out of tomorrow’s match with a ‘left-knee niggle’, England have since released Ben Stokes to play as a specialist batsman. James Weighell and Liam Trevaskis are unavailable due to injury or illness.

Durham Squad: Tom Latham (c), Graham Clark, Paul Collingwood, Will Smith, Ryan Davies, Ryan Pringle, Scott Steel, Stuart Poynter (wk), Nathan Rimmington, Mark Wood, Barry McCarthy, Chris Rushworth, Ben Whitehead, Ben Stokes

Match Details & Coverage

Durham Jets v Sussex Sharks in the Vitality Blast quarter-final at Emirates Riverside starts at 6.30pm on Friday evening. Tickets are available online from the Durham CCC website until midnight tonight and on the gates – which open at 4.30pm – tomorrow.

The match is televised on Sky Sports and will be shown in the Long Room of the Spen Cama Pavilion at The 1st Central County Ground from 5.30pm. 

BBC Sussex will provide live ball-by-ball radio commentary and you can find a live scorecard, live statistics and text commentary via the @SussexCCC twitter account on the Sussex Cricket Match Day Centre.