Sharks look to find short-format solace in their opening Blast clash against T20 strugglers Glamorgan

Sussex have endured a winless start to their red-ball campaign and now turn to the competition they reached the semi-final in last year. They will kick-off against a Glamorgan side that have finished bottom of the Southern group in the previous two full Blast competitions.

The Vitality Twenty20 Blast is back, and the counties will look to welcome back sizeable crowds as the weather improves for yet another summer filled with exciting short format cricket! 

Those who have been present to watch Sussex this season have had very little to get excited about, however, with Ian Salisbury’s side experiencing three wins and three draws in first-class cricket, without a win to the club’s name in 2022. 

Heavy defeats to Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire and Middlesex have only been cushioned by hanging on to shake hands on a draw with Derbyshire, Durham and Leicestershire. Sussex currently sit 7th in the LV County Championship Division Two, seven points ahead of bottom side Leicestershire. 

Glamorgan have had somewhat more success, picking up first-class wins over one of the division favourites in Nottinghamshire as well as the Foxes of Leicestershire. 

Despite this, the Welsh side sit just one place above Sussex in the County Championship Division Two table but do boast 28 more points on the board. 

However, first-class performances all become irrelevant when the colourful jerseys of the T20 Blast are pulled on, and the Sussex Sharks will be hoping to re-capture their impressive form over the shorter format. 

Last year, the Sharks progressed from the Southern Group Stage with a record of six wins, five games abandoned/unfinished and three losses. This included a victory over the eventual winner’s Kent, before beating Yorkshire and eventually succumbing to the Spitfires on finals day. 

Glamorgan are a side that have failed to conquer the T20 format, with Semi-Final appearances in 2004 and 2017 being the club’s best outings in the competition. 

Matthew Maynard will be aiming to master a historic first-ever T20 Blast win for the Welsh side, though may well be up against it with the talent around the teams in this year’s competition. 

Team News – Sussex: 

Sussex announced the signing of Australian wicketkeeper and batsman, Josh Phillippe, to the south coast for the blast campaign, with the 24-year-old coming in with previous experience with Perth Scorchers, Sydney Sixers and Royal Challengers Bangalore. 

Five players will maintain their place in the 14 player squad from Sussex’s last outing in first-class outing against Leicestershire. They will be Tom Alsop, Oli Carter, Henry Crocombe, Archie Lenham and Delray Rawlins. 

Lineup- 

45 – Tom Alsop 

18 – Will Beer 

23 – Ravi Bopara (C) 

11 – Oli Carter 

5 – Henry Crocombe 

44 – Steve Finn 

15 – George Garton 

41 – Archie Lenham 

7 – Tymal Mills 

2 – Josh Phillippe 

9 – Delray Rawlins 

116 – Mohammad Rizwan 

35 – Harrison Ward 

10 – Luke Wright 

Team News – Glamorgan: 

Eight players keep their place from Glamorgan’s first class loss to Durham, with Joe Cooke, Don Douthwaite, James Harris, Colin Ingram, Prem Sisodya and James Weighell all coming in to the 14 man squad. 

Lineup- 

73 – David Lloyd 

5 – Kiran Carlson 

46 – Chris Cooke 

57 – Joe Cooke 

88 – Don Douthwaite 

9 – James Harris 

31 – Michael Hogan 

41 – Colin Ingram 

99 – Marnus Labuschagne 

30 – Michael Neser 

16 – Sam Northeast 

21 – Andrew Salter 

32 – Prem Sisodiya 

29 – James Weighell 

Both teams will undoubtedly understand the importance of starting as they mean to go on, and the Sharks will be keen to get that illusive first win of the season on the board regardless of the format. Meanwhile, Glamorgan will be aware of their hugely challenging away run to start their Blast campaign (Sussex, Surrey and Middlesex) and as such will see the importance of getting a victory at the 1st Central County Ground. 

Whether these two outfits will have the quality to challenge amongst the best T20 teams in the countries remains to be seen, but this game does pose the opportunity for either side to kickstart their campaigns on a positive note. 

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