Somerset vs Sussex - Match Preview

As Ollie Robinson unearthed Ben Gibbon's off-stump late on Monday, Sussex earned a valuable victory in dramatic fashion over Worcestershire to lift them up to third in the County Championship Division One. Next up, a trip west to Taunton.

Team News

Paul Farbrace is still without the injured Sean Hunt, but there is a return to the squad for Danny Lamb, who has been sidelined with an injury picked up during the Surrey match last month. Australian bowler Nathan McAndrew returns to the Sussex squad for a third consecutive year, and he slots straight into Paul Farbrace's squad for Somerset having taken 11 wickets over two County Championship matches last season

Jayden Seales' time at Sussex is up for this season, having missed the previous fixture against Worcestershire with injury. James Hayes keeps his place in the squad having debuted last time out, taking the prized wicket of Henry Nicholls. 

Squad: Alsop, Carson, Carter, Clark, Coles, Haines, Hayes, Hudson-Prentice, Hughes, Karvelas, Lamb, McAndrew, Robinson, Simpson* (wk)

The Opposition 

It's been a surprising slow start to the 2025 season for Somerset who, as we arrive at the sixth matchday of the campaign, sit second from bottom - winning one of their opening five matches. Their first victory did, however, arrive just a few short days ago as they defeated Essex by three wickets in a tense finale.

Sussex and Somerset have already met this campaign at Hove - a match dominated by Sean Hunt, who took nine wickets in the match, propelled Sussex to a 260-run win. Tom Banton is Somerset's leading run scorer this season with 436 runs to his name, though 371 of those did arrive in one innings against Worcestershire. With the ball, Jack Leach's 17 wickets place him atop the bowling accolades this campaign.

Farbrace's Thoughts

The Head Coach was particularly pleased with his side's battling performance over Worcestershire. 

"The thing that I'm probably more delighted about is that, as a team, someone is always putting their hand up to perform. Jack Carson summed us up with his 100 in the first innings. James Hayes in the morning having travelled down the night before."

"Every game in Division One is a tough game. It doesn't matter who we're playing, we've proven that we can beat the best. We've already beaten Somerset. We've got two games that in years gone past in going to Taunton and Hampshire might have been games you'll be thing ooof. But I'm expecting the team to go there and play well. I'm expecting to go into the last day with the chance of winning the game. The level of expectation in our team is that we expect to turn up and play against the best teams. That's what we play Division One for."

How to Watch

As always, you can watch every ball, free of charge, via our Match Day Centre. You will need to register for a free account to access the stream, statistics, replays and live scorecard. You can find information on how to register here.

The action gets underway tomorrow at 11am. 

Ticket Information 

Tickets are available to purchase online from the Somerset website. You can also buy tickets in person at the ground.