Sussex Cricket is proud to announce that this year’s One Day Cup fixture against Leicestershire at The 1st Central County Ground on 4th August 2024 has been selected as the Club’s first ever Pride Match and will be the first ever cricket event officially endorsed by Brighton & Hove Pride.
The Pride Match represents the culmination of years of work on the ground in the local community to ensure that The 1st Central County Ground is a welcoming environment for all.
As well as running several programmes and initiatives over the past four years, the Club and the Sussex Cricket Foundation has been working closely with a number of LBGTQ+ organisations such as; Out4Cricket, Older and Out, Switchboard and the Brighton & Hove Council LGBTQ+ Steering Group, not only to gain insight, advice and recommendations, but also to listen to members of the community about the potential barriers they face in regard to coming to Hove to watch cricket.
Out4Cricket delivers a presentation at Sussex Cricket Foundation's LGBTQ+ Coffee & Cake morning
The Club has also established its own LGBTQ+ Steering Group, to ensure voices in the community are heard by representatives from across Sussex Cricket and also hosts monthly LGBTQ+ Coffee and Cake mornings at the ground, free of charge.
More recently, the first ever LGBTQ+ Sussex Supporters Club was formed, run by a passionate local Sussex supporter with the aim of uniting other members of the community in their support for the Club.
At the Pride match, the Sussex Sharks will be wearing a one-off limited-edition match shirt, with a rainbow themed badges and numbers. The players will also warm-up in a limited-edition training shirt.
Tymal Mills models the limited edition Pride warm-up top
Fans and spectators will also be entertained and have the chance to engage with a number of Pride themed activations around the ground, throughout the day.
Paul Kemp, Director of Brighton & Hove Pride, added: “We are thrilled to be able to work alongside Sussex Cricket for their inaugural Pride Match against Leicestershire on Sunday 4th August.
“With fundraising at its heart, Brighton & Hove Pride is widely acknowledged as one of the best Pride events across the world, so to be partnering with the oldest professional sport’s club in the world is a powerful statement.
“We hope that this event, along with all of the other fantastic work both organisations are doing across the County, will help to create even more opportunities for our community to get involved with cricket in Brighton & Hove whilst also fundraising for our essential local LGBTQ+ charities and community groups.”
The game will also be an opportunity to not only raise funds for the Brighton Rainbow Fund, but also the Sussex Cricket Foundation, with all profits from the game being split equally between both organisations.
All funds raised will go towards future initiatives and programmes designed to increase representation of the LGBTQ+ community within the game at all levels, such as supporting the launch of the County’s first ever LGBTQ+ focused cricket club in 2025.
Sussex Cricket is wholeheartedly committed to making the game of cricket accessible to all, and the Pride Match represents an opportunity for everyone involved at the Club to come together to celebrate Pride at The 1st Central County Ground.
Gary Wallis-Tayler, Community Director for the Sussex Cricket Foundation said: “The Club and the Foundation have been working tremendously hard in recent years to listen and engage with local stakeholders from the LGBTQ+ community to break down the potential barriers that prevent them from getting involved with the game of cricket.
“Cricket is a game for everyone and our first ever Pride Match is the perfect platform to not only celebrate Pride, but to also demonstrate that The 1st Central County Ground is a safe and inclusive venue for all.”
Jayne Pritchard, Trustee for the Brighton Rainbow Fund, added: “What a brilliant event, which will benefit so many within our community.
“We are so grateful for this very public and generous showing of support the diverse LGBTQ+ people in Brighton & Hove.
“We look forward to building a brilliant relationship with the Club.”
Tickets for the game on Sunday 4th August start at just £5 for kids and £20 for adults. To celebrate with the Sussex Sharks, grab your tickets by clicking here.
To find out more about the Sussex Cricket Foundation please visit: https://sussexcricket.co.uk/sussex-cricket-foundation
Sussex Sharks continued their preparations for this year’s Metro One Day Bank Cup with a 148-run victory over Berkshire at Slough.
Sussex skipper John Simpson won the toss and elected to bat but Berkshire made the most of the early conditions, as seamer And Rishton dismissed both Tom Haines (4) and Tom Clark (14) to peg back the visitors on a rain interrupted morning.
Having been off for rain on two occasions, the game was subsequently reduced to a 47-over match, with Oli Carter and Dan Ibrahim eventually returning to the crease with the Sharks on 62-2 from 13 overs.
Both products of the Sussex Cricket Pathway batted well in tandem, with the pair both making half-centuries and putting on a 117-run third wicket stand before Ibrahim was eventually dismissed for 56 from 60 deliveries to leave the Sharks on 156-3 from 27.3 overs.
Carter was next to fall after quickly making his way to 78, a knock that included six 4s and two 6s.
Those dismissals then meant Sussex Rookie’s Zack Lion-Cachet and Henry Rogers were out in the middle and both seemed set on scoring quickly.
Lion-Cachet raced to 31 from just 22 balls including two 4s and 1 six, before he was bowled by Sully Akhtar.
Henry Rogers (51) and John Simpson (50) both scored quickly for their half-centuries, before brief cameos from Foreman, Lenham, Campbell and Hunt took the Sharks to 334 all-out from their 47 overs.
In response, Berkshire lost two wickets of their own early on. The Sharks opened the bowling with two left-armers at either end, Sean Hunt, and recent signing, Jack Campbell, who was making his debut appearance for the First Team.
Campbell had an immediate impact, finding the edge twice in the same over to leave Berkshire 26-2 from just his second over in his opening spell. He then followed up with a third wicket to further reduce Berkshire to 69-4.
The Berkshire middle-order then began to show some resistance, Dan Lincoln (28) and Matt Dalrymple (19) shared a stand of 36, only for the pair to fall in quick succession.
That meant the hosts were 6 down with 109 on the board at the halfway point of their innings.
Seamer Andy Rishton provided some much-needed resistance down the order with the bat, making a rapid 44 from 28 before being bowled by Tom Clark, but once he was gone Berkshire’s task looked perilous.
Opener Rhys Lewis had retired hurt earlier in the game, meaning the Sharks only needed one more to secure victory and it was picked up Clark.
Photo Credit: Saud Ahmed
On Saturday 13th July Somerset hosted Sussex Sharks in Taunton in the semi-final of the Primary Club Heindrich Swanapoel Memorial Cup, with the Sharks cruising into the final.
Sussex won the toss and had no hesitation in asking Somerset to have a bat, preferring to know what to chase should the rain intervene.
The game started in familiar fashion for the Sharks with their opening bowlers keeping good lines and high pace with Joe Harrison claiming 2 early wickets to leave Somerset on just 6-2 after 6 overs.
Sussex then gave the ball to their totally blind bowlers Dave Daniels and Tiny Morris who reeled off 10 overs to complete their work for the afternoon.
Dave Daniels finished with figures of 1-20 off his 6 overs. At 19 overs the rain intervened and the players had to come off with Somerset 75-3. This reduced the game to 27 overs per side.
The shortened game gave Somerset just 8 overs to push the score on. England Captain Ed Hossell (29) had held the innings together but fell in the first over after the break to a skiddy yorker from Phil Daniels, who's figures of 3-9 runs off his 6 overs led the Sharks attack.
Somerset just couldn't get going and the last 8 overs netted them only 22 runs for the loss of 6 wicket, their innings closed on 97 -9.
Although the target looked modest, the pitch had proved difficult to score fluently with just the one boundary coming from the Somerset innings, so the Sharks knew they had to be watchful.
The first 4 overs yielded just 11 runs but with only 1 wicket falling there were no alarms.
After the first change scoring became easier and Si Ledwith (51) took the score to within a dozen runs before perishing, but fellow opener Mark Bond (29*) calmly saw the Sharks over the line for a comfortable eight-wicket win in the 14th over.
In the other semi-final scoring proved to be much easier as last year's beaten finalist Northants piled up 307-4.
Their opponents 2nd Division Kent gave it a good go but fell 53 runs short, meaning there will be a repeat of the 2023 final between Northants and Sussex, to be played on the 31st August at a venue yet to be announced.
A classy century from Tom Haines and 96 from skipper Tom Clark ensured Sussex Sharks won a well contested National Counties Friendly against Hertfordshire at Arundel Castle.
Hertfordshire’s skipper Ben Waring won the toss and elected to bowl and there would have been a sense of regret after the Sussex Sharks opening pair got off to a flyer, putting on 179 runs for the first-wicket stand from just 158 balls.
Clark, who was skippering for the Sharks, made a brisk 96 from 83 balls, whilst Tom Haines went one further, chalking up 102 from 110 including ten 4s and two 6s.
After Clark was dismissed in the 27th over, Hertfordshire managed to stem the flow of runs somewhat, picking up three wickets along the way to leave the Sharks 255-4 in the 42 over.
However, the incoming pair of Zach Lion-Cachet and Jack Carson batted with freedom and both closed out the innings unbeaten on 30 and 48 respectively.
That left Hertfordshire requiring 341 to secure victory and their start mirrored that of the Sussex openers, with Chatfield and Harrison also putting on 170 for the first-wicket stand.
Chatfield was the first to depart for 69, but his partner at the top, Harrison, batted beautifully to reach 126 runs from 121 balls.
From there on however, it was hard work for the remaining Hertfordshire batters, who never really looked like chasing the total down.
Four wickets from Jack Carson and two a piece from Archie Lenham, Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Henry Crocombe meant that Hertfordshire were bowled out for 282 in the 50th over of the contest.
In the end it was a well-earned 58-run victory for the Sussex Sharks, who begin their Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign on Friday 26th July against Notts Outlaws.
Sussex Sharks have qualified for this year's T20 Vitality Blast quarter-finals and are just one match away from Finals-Day.
The Sharks will play Lancashire Lightning on Wednesday 4th September at 7pm. All tickets will be available to purchase online via our ticketing website as per the details below.
Monday 22nd July 10am Members and Blast Pass Holders
Tuesday 23rd July 10am 2024 Blast Ticket Purchasers
Wednesday 24th July 10am General Sale
Members and Blast Pass Holders Adult £25 Youth (u18) £15 Junior (u14) £10
2024 Blast Tickets Purchasers and General Sale Adult £35 Youth (u18) £20 Junior (u14) £15
Accessible Requirements
Should you have any requirements that we need to be aware of, please phone the Box Office on 01273 827100 before booking any tickets. We will discuss with you and make sure the most appropriate tickets/seating is booked.
We have a number of hospitality packages for those fans who would like to upgrade their experience and make the quarter-finals that extra bit special. Take a look through our T20 Quarter-Final Hospitality Brochure to see all of our packages and prices.
To book a package please email corporatesales@sussexcricket.co.uk
Sussex Sharks secured a home quarter-final in the Vitality Blast after thrashing Middlesex by nine wickets in front of a sell-out crowd at The 1st Central County Ground.
They leapfrogged Somerset, who lost heavily to Glamorgan in Cardiff, and back into second place after securing a ninth win in the South Group and will host the team who finish third in the North in the last eight when the competition resumes in September.
The pitch at Hove was being used for the third time but Middlesex’s 159 for 9 never looked like being enough and conditions were put into perspective by Sussex openers Harrison Ward and the Australian left-hander Daniel Hughes, who put on 141 in 15.1 overs, Sussex’s fourth highest stand for any wicket in T20.
Hughes is now the top scorer in what is his debut season in the Blast after taking his aggregate to 560 runs with an unbeaten 96 while Ward, who had been drafted into The Hundred for the first time with Oval Invincibles earlier in the day, celebrated by easing to his third half-century in this season’s competition.
Apart from a mix-up which nearly ended in Hughes being run out, the Sussex pair did much as they pleased until Ward was caught at deep mid-wicket for 56 (42 balls, 5 fours, 1 six).
Hughes faced just 54 balls, hitting 12 fours and three sixes – the third to win the game with 22 deliveries to spare as he equalled his T20 career-best with his fourth fifty.
Some disciplined bowling had set Sussex up. They had reduced Middlesex to 22 for 3 by the third over with Ollie Robinson picking up a wicket with the first ball of his first two overs.
The dangerous Leus du Plooy was superbly caught at short-cover by Daniel Hughes and Danny Lamb produced an even better effort to remove Max Holden, flinging himself to his left to hang on to a full-blooded slash at backward point.
Later in the same over Lamb put down a much more straightforward chance to reprieve Jack Davies on nought and had to go off with an injury to his right shoulder.
It left Sussex a bowler light but slow left-armer James Coles (2 for 28) and off-spinner Jack Carson (2 for 23) strangled Middlesex’s attempts to accelerate, although Davies celebrated his reprieve by making 52.
Davies hit four boundaries in an over off Scott Currie and also swiped three sixes but Carson got him in the 14th over courtesy of one of three catches on the mid-wicket boundary by Tom Clark.
Luke Hollman made 28 at the end but Hughes and Ward soon had Sussex’s chase under control as Middlesex finished another disappointing campaign second from bottom after winning just three games.
Report Provided by ECB Reporters' Network
Reaction from Daniel Hughes after his unbeaten 96
The Sharks return to The 1st Central County Ground tonight for the final T20 Vitality Blast group game against Middlesex, with a home quarter-final still up for grabs. Paul Farbrace has named an unchanged squad from last night's trip to Somerset.
Squad
Alsop, Carson, Carter, Clark, Coles, Crocombe, Hudson-Prentice, Hughes, Currie, Lamb, Lenham, McAndrew, Mills (c), Robinson, Simpson (wk), Ward
Tickets are SOLD OUT!
Ticket's for tonight's game are sold out! Thank you for your support this season, it has been incredible. If the Sharks secure a home quarter-final, we will provide information on how to secure tickets as soon as possible.
How to Watch
As ever, every ball of the action will be available to watch free of charge on livestream via our Match Day Centre. The first ball is at 7pm.
Coming to the Game?
Check out all the information you need to plan your night by reading our Guide to the Game.
Ben Green claimed four wickets as holders Somerset leapfrogged Sussex Sharks into second place in the Vitality Blast South Group with a six-wicket victory at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton.
The visitors could post only 158 for nine after losing the toss, Harrison Ward top-scoring with a rapid 39 and medium-pacer Green finishing with four for 17 from three overs.
In reply, Somerset made 162 for four with 2.2 overs to spare, George Thomas blasting 42, with 7 fours, Tom Abell 47 not out and Sean Dickson 28. Tymal Mills was the most successful Sharks bowler with two for 28.
The result ensured Somerset of a quarter-final place and made them favourites to secure a home tie with one group game left to play.
The batting highlights of the Sharks’ six-over powerplay were Daniel Hughes’ three successive fours in the third over, bowled by Craig Overton, and the first six of the match struck by Ward off Jake Ball in the fifth over.
Hughes had fallen earlier in that over, miscuing a pull shot to mid-on and at the end of the powerplay Sussex were 49 for one. That became 66 for one when Ward greeted the introduction of Jack Leach with a four and six off his first two deliveries.
But the England left-arm spinner quickly struck back by having the opener caught sweeping after facing 23 balls, and that was as good as it got for the visitors as Somerset turned the screw in the middle overs.
Green struck twice in his first over, removing Tom Clark and John Simpson to catches in the deep, including a diving effort from George Thomas, and at the halfway point in their innings the Sharks were struggling on 71 for four.
Tom Alsop was dropped by Thomas off the first ball of the 13th over, sent down by Green, but perished to the next delivery as Overton pouched a comfortable catch at mid-on off a full toss.
James Coles, who hit a brisk 26, and Nathan McAndrew (20) paid the penalty for testing Dickson’s arm from the boundary edge and were both run out attempting to turn one run into two, while Green claimed his fourth wicket when the same fielder held a simple catch off McAndrew.
The Sussex total never looked likely to be enough. So it proved, as Tom Banton and Thomas got Somerset off to a flyer with a stand of 34 in four overs, ended when Banton clipped a catch to deep square off Mills’ first ball of the game.
At the end of the powerplay the hosts were 56 for one, with Thomas and Tom Kohler-Cadmore going well. They took the score to 70 in the eighth over when Thomas was caught at long-on off Danny Lamb, having faced 30 balls and enhanced his growing reputation as replacement for the injured Will Smeed.
Abell survived a caught and bowled chance to Mills, but the pace bowler struck later in the tenth over as Kohler-Cadmore, on 20, lofted a catch to deep cover. It mattered little as Abell and Dickson both cleared the ropes and Dickson ended any doubt about the result with three successive boundaries at the start of the 13th over.
With ten runs needed, Dickson was run out by Clark’s direct hit from the boundary, having done his job.
Report Provided by ECB Reporters' Network
Reaction from Paul Farbrace after defeat to Somerset
The Sharks return to T20 action tomorrow night at 6.30pm away to Somerset in their penultimate fixture. Head Coach Paul Farbrace has named a 16-player squad for the game.
Squad
Alsop, Carson, Carter, Clark, Coles, Crocombe, Hudson-Prentice, Hughes, Currie, Lamb, Lenham, McAndrew, Mills (c), Robinson, Simpson (wk), Ward,
Team News
Harrison Ward is available after suffering a shoulder injury against Essex last Saturday.
The Sharks are back in action at The 1st Central County Ground on Friday night for the final Blast group fixture, and tickets are selling fast.
Don't miss out on your chance to see the Sharks in one of only four remaining home games this summer.
Plus, you can use promo code: T20GROUPS for 10% off all bookings of 6 or more tickets. Click here to purchase yours today.
Can't make the game?
As ever, every ball of the action will be available to watch free of charge on livestream via our Match Day Centre or the Somerset YouTube Channel.
Sussex Sharks will play a 50-over National Counties friendly on Sunday 21st July at Arundel Castle, starting at 11am. We have pulled together all the information you may need to plan your day.
Gate Times
The game gets underway at 11am, with gates open to all spectators from 930am.
Admission and Ticketing
All Sussex Members can enter the ground free of charge upon production of their membership card. A £10 entry fee will apply to all non-members, with U16s also entering free of charge. Payment will need to be made by card.
Parking
There will be a charge of £5 for each vehicle and parking will be in the top car park (clear signage will be placed and stewarded). Payment will be in cash only. Please have the money available to speed up entry.
Additional Information
Some seating will be provided for spectators, however you are welcome to bring your own into the venue. Various food and drink outlets will also be available at the ground, if you do not want to bring your own.
Further information can be found on the Arundel Castle Cricket website, click here for full details.
For directions to get to the ground, please visit: https://www.cricketatarundelcastle.co.uk/contact-us/