Unchanged squad for Oval trip

Sussex Sharks play the first of two away Vitality Blast matches on consecutive nights against Surrey at the Kia Oval on Thursday.

An unchanged 14-man squad will make the trip to South London looking to extend their unbeaten record.

The Sharks sit atop the South Group with 14 points from their eight matches, two points clear of Middlesex and Kent Spitfires who have both played a game more.

The South Group ahead of Wednesday night's matches

Looking ahead to Thursday’s match, Sussex head coach Jason Gillespie said: “We’re excited to play at a wonderful ground like the Oval, especially since I’ve heard it will be a sell-out. The crowds and the quality of cricket in this year’s Blast have been exceptional and its really enjoyable to be a part of.

“Surrey haven’t had the tournament they’d have liked, but as you would expect from the reigning county champions, they have many match-winners and are a dangerous team.

“We’ll be focussing on what we can control in order to give us the best chance of getting a result. We’ve continued to adjust our game well to our opponents and to conditions, and that’s really pleasing to see. It’s about finding a way to get the job done and we’ll continue to strive do that.”

Sussex Sharks Squad

Luke Wright (c), Will Beer, Danny Briggs, Alex Carey (wk), Laurie Evans, Harry Finch, Chris Jordan, Rashid Khan, Tymal Mills, Delray Rawlins, Ollie Robinson, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, David Wiese

Opposition

Surrey have struggled so far in this year’s Blast. Their five points have come from two wins against the one side below them in the South Group, Glamorgan, and a dramatic tie with the Sharks at The 1st Central County Ground.

Aaron Finch is the side’s top-scorer with 250 runs from his nine innings, but that is arguably a disappointing return from the man who scored 589 runs in the same number of innings last year. Ollie Pope has 198 runs from his eight innings, while Sam Curran has impressed with 143 runs from just four knocks.

Curran could be missing on Thursday night as a result of international duties, however. England call ups have been an issue for Surrey in this year’s tournament, with Jason Roy and Rory Burns also part of the Ashes set-up.

Tom Curran is top of the team’s wicket-takers list (and seventh overall) in this year’s competition with 14 victims. Veteran spinners Imran Tahir and Gareth Batty are next on the list with 11 and ten wickets respectively.

Surrey’s bowling unit have struggled to keep opposition scoring rates in check. Batty’s economy rate of 8.32 is the least expensive of the regular bowlers.

Squad: Jade Dernbach, Gareth Batty, Scott Borthwick, Jordan Clark, Rikki Clarke, Tom Curran, Aaron Finch, Ben Foakes, Will Jacks, Ryan Patel, Ollie Pope, Mark Stoneman, Imran Tahir, Amar Virdi

Match Information

Surrey v Sussex Sharks at the Kia Oval on Thursday 15th August 2019. Play is scheduled to start at 6.30pm, with gates opening at 4.30pm.

The match is completely sold out. Spectators not attending the match can follow the action live on the Sussex Cricket Match Centre.

A live stream of the match will be available on the Kia Oval website.