Sharks welcome Middlesex for final Blast group game

The 1st Central County Ground is approaching a sell-out for Sussex Sharks’ final group match of this year’s Vitality Blast this evening (6.30pm).

Fewer than 300 tickets remain for the clash with bottom-team Middlesex, a game that if the Sharks win will secure them a quarter-final berth for the first time since 2015.

Sussex will finish the group stages unbeaten away from home after a four-wicket win over Gloucestershire at Bristol last night. That result moved them up into fourth place in the south group and leaves the team’s destiny in their own hands ahead of tonight’s match.

Rashid Khan will not play tonight after being recalled by Afghanistan. Luke Wright, who has missed the last two matches with a back injury, replaces the leg-spinner in the Sharks’ 14-man squad but will undergo a fitness test ahead of the start of play.

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

Middlesex sit at the bottom of the south group having only won two of their 13 matches. The second of those was against fellow strugglers Hampshire at the end of July and the north Londoners have since lost seven games on the bounce.

They have a number of dangerous players, however, as Sussex found out earlier in the tournament when England captain Eoin Morgan scored 90 off 56 balls to take his side close to victory at Lord’s before Jofra Archer intervened with a hat-trick.

Paul Stirling has been the most dangerous of the side’s batsmen scoring 440 runs from his 13 innings, with a highest of 109 against Surrey.

Fast bowler, James Fuller is their leading wicket-taker with 12 scalps but has cost nearly 11 runs per over.

Squad: Dawid Malan (captain), Martin Andersson, Ethan Bamber,Tom Barber, Stephen Eskinazi, James Franklin, James Fuller, James Harris, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Patel, George Scott, John Simpson, Nathan Sowter, Paul Stirling

Match Details & Coverage

Tonight’s match at The 1st Central County Ground is scheduled to start at 6.30pm. Tickets are now extremely limited, with fewer than 300 remaining. These can be purchased online via our Print@Home faciltiy until gates open at 5pm. If any remain thereafter, these can be purchased at the ground with a £5 ‘on the day’ premium applied.

Can’t make it to the ground? The match will be streamed live with commentary from BBC Sussex on our Match Day Centre, which also includes a live scorecard, live statistics and live text commentary via the @SussexCCC twitter feed.

BBC Sussex’s ball-by-ball commentary will be online from 6.30pm and on FM & DAB from 7pm.

Buying a drink at tonight's match? Why not pop your returnable cup into one of the Sussex Cricket Foundation dump bins located around the ground? Your £1 deposit will then be used to change lives through cricket throughout Sussex.