Sussex Sharks VI vs Northants

Tomorrow Sussex Sharks VI will face Northants at The 1st Central County Ground on Saturday 11th May at 1pm in the rescheduled 2023 BBS Primary Club Heindrich Swanapoel Memorial Cup. The competition  is the longest running disability sport competition, having first been contested in 1979.

Sussex have lifted the cup 4  times before the last being in 2018. Northants have just the one win in 2021. The 2023 Season saw Northants win the 2nd Division to be promoted back into the top flight, Sussex were runners up in National Division 1 and lifted the T20 Cup, comfortably defeating Lancashire in the final.

With the weather affecting  the early part of the 2024 season both sides have had just one game Northants drawing away at Lancashire and Sussex beating London Metro in a friendly. 

Sussex Captain Dan Field said: “We are looking forward to the game, it is fantastic to be playing the game at the county ground and I would like to thank Sussex for their commitment to disability cricket. We have our strongest side available and I know every player will give their all to lift the trophy.”

Sussex Sharks VI Squad

Mark Bond, Dave Daniels, Si Ledwith (wk), Dan Field (c), Joe Harrison, Mark Oliphant, Callum Weir, Marcus Kipling, Phil Daniels, Alex Towers, Ian “Tiny” Morris, Toby Collins, Matt Killeen, Alistair Worsley

New to Blind Cricket?

The team is made up of a mix of players with different levels of vision but all are registered as either sight impaired or severely sight impaired. 

Players wear coloured wristbands to identify their sight classification to umpires and spectators: Purple – Totals, these players wear shades so have no vision at all, Yellow – Low Partials  with very low vision, Green Mid Partials and Red – High Partials, you cannot have more than 2  high partials in your side.

 The Game

The main variations are for the Totals. They must bowl 3  overs in every 10, when batting the ball must pitch twice before reaching them  and they score double runs. The final variation is that they can take a  catch off one bounce so tend to field very close.

The mechanics of the game are very similar to sighted cricket. The stumps are slightly taller, the players with lower sight will ask the wicket keeper to call them to help them line up and when delivering the ball all bowlers have to ask the batter if they are ready  and shout “play” as they release the ball.

The cup is a 30 over match  with bowlers limited to NMT 6  overs each and 9  overs minimum must be bowled by totals. Apart from these variations, its cricket as you know it.

Ticket Information

Tickets are free of charge and can be claimed by visiting the Sussex ticketing website. Don't forget, the Sussex Sharks D40 side also play the following day at The 1st Central County Ground. Tickets are free for both games!