Sussex fixtures for 2020 announced

Nineteen days of County Championship cricket on weekends or bank holidays, matches at Arundel, Eastbourne and Horsham, the return of a fixture against national county opposition, as well as seven floodlit Vitality Blast group matches at The 1st Central County Ground are among the highlights of Sussex’s fixture list for next summer.

The team will begin their County Championship campaign a week later than in 2019 with the visit of Durham to The 1st Central County Ground on Sunday 12th April.

Further home Championship matches against Leicestershire and Glamorgan and trips to Worcestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire follow before the start of the Vitality Blast at the end of May.

Sussex Sharks’ first opponents in the T20 competition are Kent Spitfires who travel to The 1st Central County Ground on Thursday 28th May. That is one of six home Vitality Blast fixtures under lights on either a Thursday or Friday night for Jason Gillespie’s men.

Tymal Mills takes a wicket in our nine-wicket win against Kent Spitfires this summer

Glamorgan, Hampshire, Surrey, Gloucestershire and Essex Eagles are the team’s other opponents on those occasions, with Somerset visiting on the evening of Wednesday 3rd June.

Middlesex are the county to miss out on a visit to Hove in the Blast this summer, while the Sharks won’t play Somerset away.

Vitality Blast group games run until Sunday 12th July, with Sussex also playing three Championship matches – against Middlesex, Derbyshire and Leicestershire at The 1st Central County Ground, Arundel Castle and Grace Road - during this period.

The match at Arundel beginning on Sunday 28th June is the first of three home outground fixtures, meaning that the Sussex men’s first-team will play at four separate venues for the first time since 2008. 

Sussex Sharks will take on eastern neighbours Kent in the Royal London Cup at Eastbourne on Friday 24th July, with Gloucestershire their opponents in the same competition when county cricket returns to Horsham on Sunday 9th August.

In a change from recent seasons, the make-up of the two groups in the Royal London Cup has been decided by a draw rather than by geography. The Sharks’ other two home group matches are against Durham and Middlesex at The 1st Central County Ground. They will play away against Worcestershire, Hampshire, Lancashire and Essex.

The group stage of the competition runs from Sunday 19th July to Sunday 9th August. The play-offs between second and third-placed sides both take place on Thursday 13th August with semi-finals contested between the winners of those matches and the two group winners on Sunday 16th August. The final will take place at Trent Bridge on Saturday 19th September.

Another trip to the beautiful surroundings of Arundel beckons in June 2020

As a warm-up for the tournament, Sussex will travel to The Parks for a one-day encounter with Oxfordshire on Friday 17th July as first-class and national (formerly minor) counties play each other for the first time since 2005.

The quarterfinals of the Vitality Blast take place between Tuesday 18th and Friday 21st August, before Sussex play Worcestershire at The 1st Central County Ground and Durham away in back-to-back Championship matches.

Vitality Blast finals day at Edgbaston is set for Saturday 5th September, with Sussex away at Glamorgan and home to Nottinghamshire in the Championship prior to the Royal London Cup two weeks later.

The team conclude their season with a trip to Lord’s to take on Middlesex in the final round of Championship matches beginning on Tuesday 22nd September.

Sussex’s full schedule for the 2020 season can be viewed and downloaded at www.sussexcricket.co.uk/fixtures.

Sussex Memberships and Blast Pass T20 season tickets are available from 10am on Monday 2nd December. For more information visit www.sussexcricket.co.uk/membership.