Squad announced for visit of Kent Spitfires

The 1st Central County Ground hosts a local derby on Friday when Sussex Sharks take on Kent Spitfires in Group A of the Royal London Cup.

There’s one change to the Sharks squad announced prior to their defeat against Hampshire earlier in the week, with Ben Brown included for the first time in this year’s tournament.

Ollie Robinson will not feature as he focuses on red-ball preparation prior to joining the England squad on Saturday ahead of their Test series with India that begins next week.

Ravi Bopara, George Garton, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Phil Salt, Delray Rawlins and Luke Wright are all away with their respective teams in The Hundred.

Jamie Atkins (right shoulder), Mitch Claydon (right shoulder) and Sean Hunt (back) are unavailable through injury. Jofra Archer continues a managed return from elbow surgery and is not part of the squad for this fixture.

Sussex go into the fixture looking for their first win in this year’s Royal London Cup after defeats to Lancashire and Hampshire and a washed-out game against Durham in their opening three matches.

Overseas player Travis Head is leading the way with the bat for the Sharks in the tournament. Having made half-centuries in both his innings to date, the Australian has 108 runs to his name. 

Seventeen-year-old leg spinner Archie Lenham is the team’s leading wicket-taker. His five dismissals also put him in the top ten wicket-takers for the tournament as a whole.

Sussex Sharks squad

Tom Haines (captain), Will Beer, Ben Brown, Oli Carter, Tom Clark, James Coles, Henry Crocombe, Travis Head, Dan Ibrahim, Archie Lenham, Ali Orr, Joe Sarro, Harrison Ward, David Wiese

Kent Spitfires

The Spitfires have the same record as the Sharks so far in this year’s Royal London Cup, with two defeats and a no result. They started their campaign by falling 103 runs short of Durham’s gargantuan 405 for 4 at Beckenham, but they ran Worcester closer in their second match at New Road, losing by three wickets in the final over. Only 14.5 overs were possible in their most recent fixture back at Beckenham against Lancashire before torrential rain intervened.

Recruited ahead of the competition to fill gaps left by the Kent players involved in The Hundred, Scottish international George Munsey has proved to be a shrewd signing. He has scored 96 and 108 on his two outings so far. Former Sussex man, Harry Finch, also drafted in by the Spitfires for the tournament, has also impressed with half centuries in both his innings to date, including 84 against Worcestershire on Sunday.

Matt Quinn is the Spitfires’ leading wicket taker with three, but the seamer has been expensive, conceding 8.42 runs per over. Darren Stevens has been far and away the team’s most economical bowler. Remarkably given that Durham onslaught, he’s given away just 4.28 runs per over. Both Stevens and James Logan have two wickets each.

Kent are missing Daniel Bell-Drummond Sam Billings, Alex Blake, Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, Joe Denly, Fred Klaassen and Jack Leaning to The Hundred or England duty.

Ollie Robinson is captaining the side in this year’s Royal London Cup. Simon Cook is coaching the team while Matt Walker is away with Oval Invincibles in The Hundred.

Squad: Ollie Robinson (captain), Harry Finch, Nathan Gilchrist, Joe Gordon, Heino Kuhn, James Logan, Matt Milnes, George Munsey, Tawanda Muyeye, Marcus O'Riordan, Hamid Qadri, Matt Quinn, Darren Stevens, Grant Stewart

Match information

Friday’s fixture against Kent at The 1st Central County Ground is scheduled to begin at 11am, with gates opening at 9.30am.

Tickets will be available online until 11am on Friday. We strongly encourage you to buy your tickets online as you may encounter a lengthy wait to purchase tickets at the gate as we need to collect contact information for all spectators for NHS Track and Trace purposes.

Important spectator information for this match is available here. 

If you can’t make the game, a live stream will be available on the Sussex Cricket Match Centre alongside video clips, a live scorecard and live statistics.

Many thanks to match sponsor Focus Group for their support for this fixture.