Winterwatch: McAndrew on fire! 

This week we have an action packed Winter Watch with many Sussex players starring all over the world and impressing with bat, ball and gloves. McAndrew was the pick of the bunch down in Australia!

Nathan McAndrew 

Sussex returning overseas Nathan McAndrew was on fire for South Australia as he dismantled Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield by taking 6/44 off just 15.2 overs. Nathan's side, South Australia finished their 1st innings on 271 before Tasmania were bowled out for 144. SA were then bowled all out for 175 setting Tasmania 324 to win. Nathan grabbed another 2 wickets as Tasmania were all out for 198, McAndrew finishing his 2nd innings with figures of 2/42 from 17 overs. 

Sussex Squad

A pre-season tour to India for the remaining squad members who have not chosen to play abroad this year have travelled to Bangalore for a warm weather training camp and practice matches.

They faced a Karnataka State Cricket XI in a two day friendly match. An unknown bowler going by the name of "Jofra Archer" also featured for the opposition and took a couple of wickets, one breaking the stump as he dismissed Oli Carter, Archer also took the wicket of Alsop.

Day One - Sussex bowled KCSA all out for 201. Lamb the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/25 from 6.1 overs. Sussex closed the first day's play on 185-2 with Coles on 66* and Alsop 51*

Day Two - Sussex finished on 365 all out with Archer bowling for KCSA and taking 2 wickets. KCSA finished the final day on 162-4.

Watch Archer's wicket below. 

Tymal Mills 

Tymal Mills and Islamabad United beat PSL leaders Multan Sultan in a thrilling game where both sides scored 200+. Multan Sultans scored a huge 228/4. Islamabad United chased down the mammoth chase with three wickets to spare with former Sussex overseas Shadab Khan hitting a 31 ball half century. 

Bertie Foreman 

Bertie Foreman is loving his cricket down under. Last weekend he helped Manly Warringah to victory over Penrith finishing with the exceptional figures of 7/38 from 15 overs as Penrith were all out for 101. Manly then declared on 259/5 to let Foreman cause chaos with the ball once again. Bertie took another 6 wickets finishing on 6/61 from 12.3 overs as Penrith were all out for 161. A 13 wicket haul for the Sussex spinner.

Bertie finished the regular season as leading wicket taker in the whole competition with 50 in 15 games with an average of 17.6 which included 26 in his last 4 games helping his side to 2nd place, taking them into the finals. 

Charlie Tear & Brad Currie 

The Sussex Duo did not play in Scotland’s first T20 match and loss to the United Arab Emirates. 

They both featured in the 2nd T20 and helped Scotland to a fantastic win! Scotland looked to be in trouble as they were all out for 94 but Brad Currie's exceptional bowling helped the Scots to victory! UAE were all out for just 62 as Currie took 3/7 of his 4 overs. Tear impressed with the gloves on, taking 2 catches, one being a world class dive down low to his right. Tear also stumped opener Wassim from the bowling of Currie ending a successful tour for the Sussex pair over in the UAE.

Watch Tear's catch below.

Oli Carter and Danial Ibrahim 

Olie and Danial helped Newcastle City to a win over in their game vs Cardiff Boolaroo. The duo helped their side to a 2nd place finish in the 1st Grade Rippit Premiership advancing them to the semi final. Ibrahim took 4/39 as Cardiff were all out for 129. Ibrahim then hit 32 as Newcastle finished on 236. Cardiff could not chase the target down and Ibrahim helped himself to another 2 wickets in the 2nd innings. 

Freya Kemp

Freya Kemp hit an quick 37 from 27 balls in England A’s warmup match vs New Zealand in Queenstown for their Tour of New Zealand. She is touring as a batter only to help her recovery and workload to get her back to full availability. 

Daniel Hughes

Sussex's new overseas hit a half century in his side New South Wales win over Queensland in the Sheffield Shield. Hughes was out for 17 in his first innings but helped secure the win with a knock of 54 of just 31 balls as they chased down the 133 runs required to win.

Jayden Seales

Seales took 2/48 in Trinidad and Tobago's match with the Windward Islands as they were all out for 191. Trinidad were all out for 294 in their 1st innings as the game continues on over the weekend. 

The Sussex Cricket Foundation and Webtrends Optimize presents DIScoverABILITY Weekend 2024

The Sussex Cricket Foundation is delighted to announce that DIScoverABILITY Day will return once again to the The 1st Central County Ground on Friday 10th May 2024 and will precede back-to-back disability cricket fixtures on the hallowed turf at Hove. 

Last year, another record-breaking DIScoverABILITY Day saw over 650 participants from 32 organisations, as well as 145 volunteers take to the field at The 1st Central County Ground for an action-packed day of batting, throwing, catching and bowling challenges, designed for all abilities and led by Sussex Cricket Foundation coaches.  

For the first time ever the spectacular disability sport event, one of the largest in the southeast, will be followed by two amazing fixtures of disability cricket. 

The first match will take place on Saturday 11th May and will see the Sussex Sharks VI (Visually Impaired) team take on Northamptonshire in a rescheduled cup final from 2023. 

That will then be followed by a D40 Quest League fixture between Sussex D40 and Lancashire on Sunday 12th May. 

The flagship weekend will take place during the Foundation’s Disability Cricket Month, which will showcase the players, teams, volunteers, and programmes which help to make up disability cricket in Sussex. 

Tom Belcher, Disability Cricket Manager for the Sussex Cricket Foundation is looking forward to an amazing weekend: “I am absolutely delighted to not only be able to announce DIScoverABILITY Day, but to be able to announce DIScoverABILITY Weekend, three days of fabulous fun and some high-class disability cricket. 

“To have both the Sussex Sharks VI and Sussex D40 sides play at a first-class ground once again, as well as our most important event in our calendar, DIScoverABILITY Day, all on the same weekend will be incredible for disability cricket in Sussex. 

“We look forward to welcoming as many people as possible to what will be three special days at The 1st Central County Ground.”

Anyone who would like to attend DIScoverABILITY Day or volunteer at the event is encouraged to contact the team at disabilitycricket@sussexcricket.co.uk

Tickets to both fixtures across the weekend will be completely free of charge, with information on how to claim yours coming in the next couple of weeks. 

Sussex Cricket reveals match kits 

for all Sussex teams ahead of the 2024 season

Sussex Cricket today unveiled the 2024 match kits for the men’s, women’s, D40 and Sharks Visually Impaired teams. 

Last week, Fynn Hudson-Prentice, Jack Carson, and James Coles were joined by Sussex Women’s Chiara Green, Daisy Gibb, Regina Suddahazai and Sussex D40 players James Bunday, Dan Gee and Megan Loveland for a photoshoot at The 1st Central County Ground. 

The match kits, along with the new training kits and Express Range, will be supplied by KitKing, in a multi-year deal that has seen Sussex become the only professional cricket team in the northern hemisphere wearing the Swoosh across their kits.

Sussex fans have already been able to get their hands on the new Nike Express Range and will soon be able to purchase both replica training and match kits ahead of the 2024 season. 

Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for information on how you can purchase your replica kits and support your favourite Sussex teams.

In this week’s Winter Watch we review Tymal Mills as he puts in another impressive performance over in Pakistan, plus we have updates on the multiple Sussex squad members playing all over the world. 

Tymal Mills continues impressive campaign in Pakistan

Tymal Mills was rested for Islamabad United’s win over Peshawar Zamir on Monday after their match two days before vs Quetta Gladiators was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Mills was the pick of the bowlers for their win versus the Karachi Kings. Tymal took 3/34 from his four overs as Karachi finished on 150/7. Islamabad United chased it down with 8 balls to go which moves them up to 2nd behind Multan Sultans. 

Bertie Foreman stars again!

Bertie Foreman once again took another 4 wickets in Australia for 1st Grade club Manly Warringah, his 4-71 from 24 overs helped them towards a comprehensive victory over Mosman.  

Bertie is currently halfway through his match with Penrith and the Sussex youngster has already taken another 4 wickets with current figures of 4-24 of 10 overs. Penrith are currently 74/6 chasing Manly’s set target of 105. 

Robinson rested for Final Test

Ollie Robinson suffered from a sickness bug last week on top of a back issue suffered in the 4th test which has ruled him out of the final test vs India. 

Pujara knocked out of Ranji Trophy

Cheteshwar Pujara’s Saurashtra were knocked out of the Ranji Trophy in the quarter finals after Tamil Nadu won by an innings and 33 runs. Pujara was caught and bowled for 2 in his first innings and fell just 4 short of a half century in his 2nd innings knock of 46. Former Sussex player Jaydev Unadkat took 2-57 from 22 overs. 

Carter and Ibrahim knocked out of Summer Bash 

Oli Carter and Danial Ibrahim’s Newcastle City Sabres fell to defeat in the Summer Bash Quarter Finals vs Merewether Lions. Danial Ibrahim grabbed 2 wickets for himself finishing on 2-28 as the Lions set a target of 117 to win. Ibrahim managed 10 and Oli Carter fell for a duck as the Sabres finished 14 runs short of victory, finishing all out for 102.

Seales defeated in Trinidad

Sussex new overseas signing Jayden Seales lost to the Leeward Islands by 4 wickets in the West Indies Championship. Seales hit 15 in the opening Trinidad and Tobago innings as they finished on 137 and then took 1-49 from 14 overs in Leeward’s first innings as they finished on 318. Seales hit 11 in the 2nd innings as T & T finished on 342 but could not find a breakthrough wicket in Leeward’s winning chase. 

Canada defeat the Scots again

Charlie Tear and Brad Currie could not repeat their last match heroics as Canada defeated Scotland again. Scotland were all out for 197. Tear hit 18 opening the batting and Brad Currie was 8*. Canada chased the 197 comfortably finishing on 200/5. Currie took 1 wicket and finished on 1/36 of 10 overs while Tear took a catch from the bowling of Wheal. 

Women of Sussex Cricket come together for

International Women’s Day 

This week the female employees of Sussex Cricket met to celebrate International Women’s Day and discuss the challenges they face in an industry where they are disproportionally represented. 

Held in the Boardroom at The 1st Central County Ground, the meeting brought together female employees from across the organisation, including those from Professional Cricket, the Foundation and the Board of Sussex Cricket Limited. 

Led by Sussex Cricket’s People Director, Sam Holder, employees discussed a wide range of issues that not only impact themselves at work, but also female spectators and players that represent Sussex. 

One of the key objectives of the discussions was to ensure mechanisms were put in place to better improve collaboration between female employees across the organisation.

Other topics discussed included: making The 1st Central Ground a more welcoming environment for women, education on women’s health for female players at Sussex, as well as ways in which the Club can better promote women’s cricket across existing communication channels. 

Speaking on the event, Sam Holder, said: “Today was a fantastic opportunity to bring together women from across Sussex Cricket, to discuss common themes and issues impacting females in cricket and how these can be addressed. 

"It was inspiring to see the passion, commitment and hard work that has already taken place to progress women and girls’ cricket to date, but we still have work to do to ensure that women and girls have access to the same opportunities, facilities, and resources to support our ambition for cricket to be the most inclusive sport in the country. 

"I am excited by the passion shown by everyone present today. Together with the ongoing support of our colleagues within Sussex Cricket and the wider cricket community, I believe we can achieve great progress for women and girls in cricket”.

To find out more about women & girls’ cricket in Sussex, please visit: https://sussexcricket.co.uk/sussex-cricket-foundation/women-and-girls/international-womens-day 

Or to read more about International Women’s Day, click here.

Sussex Cricket's Mary Taylor has been selected for the England u19 Women's Tour of Sri Lanka!  

The England Women U19 squad to tour Sri Lanka to take on the hosts and Australia in a Tri Series has been confirmed. 

Both T20 and 50-over formats will be played in late March and early April with the dates and venues to be announced in due course. 

Within the 15-player group are a number of players that attended the inaugural ICC Women’s U19 World Cup in South Africa in January 2023 and who are still age-eligible. They are joined by some players who are U19 for the 2024 season only and some players who will also remain as U19 players for the second Women’s U19 World Cup in Malaysia in January 2025 and therefore will be in contention for that programme later in 2024. 

Head coach Chris Guest said: “We are all looking forward to our forthcoming series in Sri Lanka. 

“We have selected a good mix of those who have represented this age group before and those who are new. 

“It’s a really exciting squad who are relishing the chance to compete against quality opposition. 

“To have the opportunity to play T20 and 50-over cricket is really important. 

“It’s a chance for the players to be exposed to and experience different conditions and will present excellent learning opportunities. These will help support the development of the players within their regions and hopefully one day to play for the senior team.”

England Women U19 squad

Tilly Corteen-Coleman (South East Stars)
Jodi Grewcock (Sunrisers)
Josie Groves (The Blaze)
Katie Jones (Western Storm)
Charlotte Lambert (South East Stars)
Ava Lee (Southern Vipers)
Abigale Norgrove (Southern Vipers)
Charis Pavely (Central Sparks)
Davina Perrin (Central Sparks)
Sophia Smale (Western Storm)
Alexa Stonehouse (South East Stars)
Amuruthaa Surenkumar (Sunrisers)
Mary Taylor (Southern Vipers)
Erin Thomas (Northern Diamonds)
Maddie Ward (Northern Diamonds)

The following players have been confirmed as non-travelling reserves from the original player preparation group:

Meg Austin (Central Sparks)
Summer Carrington (Thunder)
Lola Harris (Western Storm)
Trudy Johnson (Northern Diamonds)
Charlotte Stubbs (South East Stars)

[ECB Website]

Congratulations Mary! #GOSBTS

Sussex Academy Players Joined by Archie Lenham for Specialist Batting Camp in India

Sussex Cricket Foundation Releases 2023 Impact Report

The Sussex Cricket Foundation has published its Impact Report for 2023. The annual report recognizes a number of achievements across the County for the Foundation. 

• Significant investment in Crawley through the Urban Cricket Plan
• Launch of the Aldridge@BACA Sussex Women’s Cricket League
• Another record attendance for DIScoverABILITY Day
• Alfie Pyle England debut, a product of the county’s disability cricket pathway
• Even more growth for recreational cricket across all levels of the game

It has been yet another outstanding year for the Foundation and the latest Impact Report supports the notion that cricket is continuing to grow rapidly across Sussex, thanks to the passionate work of the Foundation team.

One of the major success stories of 2023 was the investment made into cricket in Crawley, through the Foundation’s ambitious Urban Cricket Plan. 

By the end of 2024, over £200,000 will have been invested into indoor & outdoor facilities, equipment, and programmes thanks to some generous support from the Cama Cricket Charitable Trust, Roffey Homes and funds ringfenced from the Sussex Cricket Foundation.

As well as the installation of seven new non-turf pitches, a state-of-the-art, three-lane indoor net facility opened at the Apple Tree Centre in the heart of the Crawley community.

2023 also saw the launch of the first Women’s Club Premier League in Sussex, as well as a second division one step below.

The Aldridge@BACA Sussex Women’s Cricket League has not only helped to grow participation numbers in Women’s cricket, but also serves as a clear pathway from recreational amateur cricket to the regional and professional game. 

The growth & development of Women & Girls Cricket across the County continues to be of high importance to the Foundation. 

Yet again in 2023 DIScoverABILITY Day broke participation records, with 650 participants attending the annual disability cricket showcase.

32 organisations came together, made up of 150 volunteers, to give members of the local community an opportunity to play games on the pitch at The 1st Central County Ground.

History-maker Alfie Pyle achieved every young cricketer’s dream in 2023, when he made his debut for the England Learning Disability team.

Alfie became the first every participant of the Lord’s Taverners Super 1s programme, held in Crawley, to go from a hub setting, through the county system and then on to represent England. 

Speaking on the report, Gary-Wallis-Tayler, Community Cricket Director, said: “I am proud of all our achievements during 2023, my team deserve huge credit for all their hard work and commitment, to growing the game across Sussex and making it accessible to all. 

We have much to look forward to during 2024 including, greater focus in Brighton & Hove through our Urban Cricket Plan, continuing our work with the LGBTQ+ community and continuing to strengthen our relationship with Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club as well as the wider Sussex community.

"A particular highlight this year will be our festival of Disability Cricket in May, where we will be running our annual DIScoverABILITY Day and hosting both our Sussex Sharks VI team and D40 team at The 1st Central County Ground, for what will be a spectacular weekend."

Ish Jalal, Chair, Sussex Cricket Foundation, added: “2023 has been one of the most successful years for the Foundation in delivering high quality and impactful projects and programmes that have made a positive change in people lives, many of these have been highlighted the report.

“Sussex cricket has a clear objective to be the most inclusive sports club in the country and the Foundation is playing a pivotal role in achieving this objective.”

To read about the growth of the game across Sussex, you can read the full Impact Report here: https://www.instantflipbook.com/flipbooks/cfa6b3615a/?page=1

Supporting the Sussex Cricket Foundation

There are many ways in which you can help to support the important work that the Sussex Cricket Foundation carries out. 

Your next opportunity is to support the Foundation is by attending the flagship fundraiser, ‘Where Cricket Meets…Michael Vaughan AND Phil Tufnell’.

There are a handful of tickets left to the event which will include plenty of stories and anecdotes from two England cricketing legends, plus a fantastic three-course lunch and plenty of ways to join in the fun and raise money along the way.

Full information on the event can be found here, as well as instructions on how to purchase your tickets. 

If anyone would like to learn more about the Sussex Cricket Foundation or support any of their initiatives, then please contact Community Cricket Director, Gary Wallis-Tayler on gary.wallis-tayler@sussexcricket.co.uk 

Sussex Cricket announces two-year partnership extension with award-winning local food brand Higgidy 

Sussex Cricket is delighted to announce a two-year extension with Shoreham-based, award-winning food brand, Higgidy. 

Delicious food brand, Higgidy, has been making great tasting food that’s packed full of top-notch ingredients since 2004, and are on a mission to bring innovation and great flavour to the pie, quiche and savoury snacks sector, whilst being kind to people and the planet. 

The new agreement represents an expansion on the previous partnership, with a selection of Higgidy’s pies and snacking products set to be sold to fans of Sussex in Greig’s Café. 

Lucky fans will be able get their hands on a range of ready to eat meat and veggie pies, as well as Snacking & Sharing packs that include products such as their Mini Muffins and Dinky Rolls. Higgidy will also have branding placements throughout Greig's Café to further increase their presence at The 1st Central County Ground. 

Speaking about the partnership, Higgidy, CEO, Rachel Kelley said: “We are delighted to be extending our partnership with Sussex Cricket, which we know will put our brand on the radar of more cricket fans.  Higgidy makes feel-good food, that provides big-flavoured, good-natured, crowd-pleasing meals to enjoy together, so this partnerships seems like the perfect fit.”

Lisa Hogan, Head of Commercial at Sussex Cricket, added: “Everyone at Sussex Cricket is delighted to have Higgidy on board for a further two years.

“The fact that they are a local, award-winning company means a lot to us and we are even more excited to be able to sell their amazing products in Greig’s Café to our fans on matchdays!”

To find out more about Higgidy and their products, visit: https://www.higgidy.co.uk/