Squad news and full matchday information for sold-out Gloucestershire fixture

A home quarter-final already secured, Sussex Sharks play their final group match of this year’s Vitality Blast against Gloucestershire at The 1st Central County Ground on Friday night (6.30pm start).

The fixture is another sell-out, the sixth of Sussex’s seven home group games in this year’s tournament.  

Head coach Jason Gillespie has named a 14-man squad for the match. Fast bowler George Garton is included for the first time in the campaign, while Alex Carey – who is playing for the Australians in their tour match against Derbyshire – drops out.

Despite safe passage into the last eight, Gillespie is keen to ensure his team don’t look further than Friday night: “We had a wonderful weekend where we played some fantastic cricket and it’s great to have got that home quarter-final. We enjoyed that and celebrated that, but now it’s time to focus all our energy on Friday’s game against Gloucestershire and on how to be as effective as we possibly can in that match.

“Gloucester are a really good side and they’ve played good cricket in all formats this year. We had a tough battle with them earlier at Bristol in the tournament so we know they’re a quality outfit and we’re looking forward to the challenge of facing them again.

“Browny [Ben Brown] will come to keep wicket and bat in the middle order before we welcome Kez [Alex Carey] back for the quarter-final.”

A win on Friday would give the Sharks the equal highest number of points acquired in the South Group since the introduction of a 14-match format in 2014. Coincidentally, Gloucestershire are the only team to have reached 21 points previously, something they achieved in 2016.

Sussex Cricket would like to thank tomorrow’s match sponsors Coco Fuzion 100 for their support.

Sussex Sharks Squad

Luke Wright (captain), Will Beer, Jason Behrendorff, Danny Briggs, Ben Brown, Laurie Evans, Harry Finch, George Garton, Chris Jordan, Delray Rawlins, Ollie Robinson, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, David Wiese

Opposition

Gloucestershire currently sit in second place with a game against Kent Spitfires on Thursday and the Sharks on Friday remaining. They’ll need to win one of those two matches to ensure a spot in the quarter-finals. Win both and they’ll secure a home tie, but lose both and they’ll be relying on other results going their way if they are to make the last eight at all.

Miles Hammond is their leading run scorer with 240, but there are six batsmen with between 162 and 240 runs to their name.

David Payne and Andrew Tye are the side’s leading wicket-takers with 12 and 11 respectively. Payne also has a very impressive economy rate of just 7.05 runs per over.

Squad: TBA

Match Information

Sussex Sharks v Gloucestershire at The 1st Central County Ground on Friday 30th August. Play starts at 6.30pm, with gates opening at 5pm.

A guide to the game and a map of The 1st Central County Ground can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

The raffle at this match will be raising money for Grief Encounter. Prizes include a match-worn playing shirt signed by Phil Salt. 

This match is completely SOLD OUT. No tickets will be available at the gates. Ticket holders are advised to arrive early to avoid a delay passing through security checks at the entrance to the ground.

The reception/club shop will close at midday on Friday and reopen when gates open at 5pm.

Supporters that have missed out on securing tickets will be able to follow Friday’s action live on the Sussex Cricket Match Centre, which includes a live stream of the game. 

Looking for ticketing information for the Vitality Blast quarter-final at The 1st Central County Ground next week? Click HERE!