Hove sees a battle between two of the fancied sides in Division Two
Sussex will currently be the happier of the two sides, topping Division Two by ten points, but will be keen to put a poor performance in Cardiff last week behind them. Meanwhile Yorkshire are in the bottom half of the table still without a win, although they are only eight points behind second-placed sides Middlesex and Leicestershire. There were four wins from six games in the last round of Championship matches, but they are still elusive and there may be some rain around on the south coast this weekend.
Sussex will be bolstered by the return of Ollie Robinson, who was rested for the game against Glamorgan. He and Jayden Seales form a formidable opening attack with Seales currently leading the wicket-taking in Division Two with 23 at 21.86. In a competition dominated by bowlers delivering the ball at under 80mph, he and Robinson make a welcome contrast. Unfortunately for Sussex, the change bowling in Cardiff was less threatening and they were unable to call upon the spin of Jack Carson, who injured his back when batting in their first innings. Sussex’s main problems revolved around a lack of application from their batters and they are going to be put under pressure by the Yorkshire bowling.
Yorkshire have had one bad performance at Lord’s and in the other games they have not been able to take the wickets needed to get the win. Their bowling attack, led by Matt Fisher and Ben Coad has not had quite the impact expected and they have been unable to take advantage of the luxury provided by the presence of Joe Root and Harry Brook. Brook has now played the five games he was available for, while Root can play only one of the two remaining matches in this block. Jordan Thompson will come back in, while Matt Milnes and Mickey Edwards are likely to still be side lined.
Yorkshire were deprived of wins in both games between the two sides in 2023, rain washing out the final days. Hopefully there will be better fortune this week as a win for either side will make a big statement in the promotion battle.
Key players:
John Simpson bagged a pair in Cardiff and alongside the loss, this was the first blemish on his captaincy at his new club. He has been brought in to add some maturity to the young side and it will be important for him and Cheteshwar Pujara to get Sussex back on track this week. Despite the failure in Cardiff, he still has 314 runs at 52.33 this season, including a double century.
Shan Masood has had a productive time in county cricket over the last couple of years, firstly with Derbyshire and more recently at Yorkshire. As well as captaining his county he is also Pakistan’s Test captain, although his tenure did not get off to the best start with a 3-0 series loss in Australia. He has made a steady start this season with the bat, scoring 293 runs at 41.85, with one century, but will be keen to post some big scores in order to facilitate a badly needed win.
Team News:
Robinson looks set to return, while Carson must be a doubt.
Sussex squad (from): John Simpson (c, wk), Tom Alsop, Jack Carson, Oli Carter, Tom Clark, James Coles, Tom Haines, Fynn Hudson-Prentice, Aristides Karvelas, Danny Lamb, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ollie Robinson, Jayden Seales
Brook is no longer available. It waits to be seen if Root plays in this match or the next.
Yorkshire Squad (from): Shan Masood (c), Finlay Bean, Ben Coad, Matthew Fisher, George Hill, Adam Lyth, Dan Moriarty, Matthew Revis, Joe Root, Jonathan Tatersall (wk), Jordan Thompson, James Wharton
Weather and Conditions
Day one is set fair, but there may be interruptions from showers over the remaining three days.
There has been a win and a draw at Hove so far this season and on both occasions Sussex won the toss and chose to bowl first. Hopefully there will be enough in the pitch for the bowlers to test the batters this week.
Date: 17th May 2024
Time: 11:00
Ground: 1st Central County Ground, Hove
