Squad head to Leicestershire after encouraging Championship start

Sussex’s early-season tour of the midlands moves from the west to the east of the region for the start of the Specsavers County Championship division two fixture against Leicestershire on Friday.

The side enter the match having secured twelve points from the draw against Warwickshire, which included a number of impressive individual performances.

After taking four wickets in Warwickshire’s first innings, David Wiese then smashed a 91-ball hundred – his first for Sussex - from number nine. That performance earned the South African the division two player of the week award.

Coming in with the score on 88-5, captain Ben Brown batted for over four hours on his way to 91, providing the lynchpin for two crucial partnerships with Michael Burgess and Wiese as Sussex ended their first innings on 374.

Indian overseas player, Ishant Sharma also caught the eye with his five wickets in the match, including those of former England test stars Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott during Warwickshire’s second innings of 87-3.

Looking back at the trip to Edgbaston and ahead to tomorrow’s clash with Leicestershire, Sussex head coach Jason Gillespie said: “There were some fantastic individual performances against Warwickshire, but what really impressed me was the attitude of the whole squad.

“They hustled right throughout the match and twelve points from a game with so much time lost to the weather against a strong side was a result of that.

“Leicester have seen some big changes over the winter and will be hungry to get their season off to a strong start, so we’re taking nothing for granted over the next four days and are really excited to get back out on the pitch.”

Gillespie has named a twelve-man squad for the trip to the Fischer County Ground, with Sussex Cricket Boys’ Academy bowler Will Sheffield missing from the 13 that travelled to Edgbaston.

Danny Briggs, George Garton and Abi Sakande continue their recovery from injury. Briggs and Garton have been bowling in the Sussex 2ndXI fixtures against Essex this week, while Sakande has travelled with the squad to Leicester to continue his rehabilitation.

Sussex CCC squad:

Ben Brown (c/wk)

Will Beer

Michael Burgess

Harry Finch

Ollie Robinson

Phil Salt

Ishant Sharma

Stiaan van Zyl

Stuart Whittingham

David Wiese

Luke Wells

Luke Wright

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