Sussex Cricket releases 2024 Pathway data

Sussex Cricket has today announced its Academy and Emerging Player Programme intake for 2024, along with the supporting demographic data for the Talent Pathway.

Boys EPP and Sussex Cricket Academy Squads

Emerging Player Programme (EPP) 

Ollie Hughes, Archie Hall, Fergus O’Connell, Jamie Schoeman, George Bamford, Aryan Kulkarni, Oli Mason, Billy Hemmings, Jonny Prior, Adam Ibrahim, Reuben Martin

Sussex Cricket Academy 

Frankie Cripps, Zan Copleston, Harry Eastman, Freddie Wallis, Rahul Tangirala, Ollie Avinou, Fergus Kenyon, Dylan Driscoll, Kieran Finnegan, Julian Laird, Louie Lawrence, Harry Walker, Sam Topping*

*Due to missing 2023 through injury, Sam Topping has been attached to the Academy as an overage player in 2024.

Boys Data

Demographics of Academy & EPP vs Sussex Population 

To benchmark the demographics data of the EPP and Academy, we have compared the numbers with the overall population data for the county of Sussex, taken from the 2021 Census. 

State School vs Independent Data 

Of the 23 intakes in the EPP and Academy, 26.08% of those attend state schools within Sussex, including 3 who attend Sussex Cricket’s state school of choice, the Brighton Aldridge Cricket Academy. 

This represents a 5.03% increase from the 2023 intake of 21.05%.

Oxfordshire Cricket Partnership

Sussex Cricket is delighted to confirm that two more players from the Oxfordshire Cricket partnership will be in the Academy for the 2024 season. 

Julian Laird and Dylan Driscoll will follow in the footsteps of Sussex First XI players, James Coles, Harrison Ward and Zach Lion-Cachet.

Hear from Julian Laird on being selected in the Sussex Cricket Academy

County Junior Squad Data - Boys

The following statistics relate to the players selected in the Boys’ Sussex Cricket Pathway for 2023/24 from U9’s to U16’s.

State School vs Independent Data

Of the 333 boys currently in the Sussex Cricket Pathway, a total of 169 (51%) currently attend state schools, 156 (47%) attend independent schools and the remaining preferring not to say. 

Girls Data

Demographics of Girls’ County Junior Squad vs Sussex Population 

State School vs Independent School Data – Girls

Of the 164 girls currently in the Sussex Cricket Pathway, a total of 80 (49%) currently attend state schools, 82 (50%) attend independent schools and the remaining preferring not to say. 

Keith Greenfield, Director of Pathways & Cricket Partnerships

Speaking on the announcement of the new Academy intake, Keith Greenfield, Director of Pathways and Cricket Partnerships, said: “Sussex Cricket is committed to working to provide as many opportunities as possible to talented players across the county, regardless of ethnicity, background or what school you attend to be able to fulfil your cricketing aspirations.

“This year we have maximised the number of players selected in the Academy group, this is virtually a new group into the Academy and the journey with this group of players to produce an exciting new crop of future professional players for Paul and Club for the years ahead has started.

“The impact of extra free state school coaching provision for players, the coaching opportunities within the program we’ve established with our state school cricket provider at BACA, the ongoing work in our two Urban Cricket plans in Crawley & Brighton and increasing quality of delivery in our Club systems are all having an impact on giving a balanced opportunity for all players across the board.

“Through the Sussex Cricket Foundation’s partnership with the Ned’s Fund, we have also been able to provide over £13,000 of funding through our Champion’s Fund, helping to provide financial support to aspiring cricketers in the Pathway.

We need to continue to identify and remove any barriers that exist to be able to fully participate.

“Our partnership with Oxfordshire Cricket continues to grow with seven further players involved into our upper end pathway activity following in the footsteps of the three pros from Oxfordshire we have signed to our professional squad in the last couple of years.”

Full Data

A breakdown of all the data for the Boys’ Cricket Pathway can be downloaded by clicking the button below*. This includes data related to ethnicity, age, background and the cricket club of the players who have made the intake. 

*All data accurate as of December 31st 2023