Sussex had been building to their successes of 2024 over a number of years having backed their young products, with the support of a few more experienced heads, finally capped off by the appointment of John Simpson as captain. The growing gap between first and second division cricket has caused problems for promoted clubs, but Sussex look perfectly capable of mixing it with the big boys.
Coach Paul Farbrace has found just the right players to bolster his home grown talent and two of those, Daniel Hughes and Jayden Seales, will be returning for second stints with the county. Again, Seales will just be around for the first batch of Championship games while Hughes has signed on for all the club’s County Championship and T20 Blast matches. Jaydev Unadkat had signed a new two-year deal following his appearances at the end of the last two campaigns, but is now only available for the final three red-ball games in September. This has led to the recruitment of Australian seamer Gurinder Sandhu for June and July.
They have plenty of youngsters in the squad who have already shown their potential and should only improve. Sussex will also benefit from Ollie Robinson having slipped out of England’s thoughts, as he contributed 39 wickets in 12 Championship games last season, making a potent new ball combination with Seales. 50 wickets from Jack Carson’s off spin was also a big plus.
With the signing of Hughes, Sussex no longer need the services of Cheteshwar Pujara after three years at Hove. Simpson led the way with the bat last summer with 1197 runs at 74.81, followed by Tom Haines (819 runs) and Tom Alsop (799). Haines and Hughes form a solid opening partnership and Sussex will hope for more from Tom Clark, who had a disappointing 2024, averaging just 24.40.
Sussex also reached finals day in the Blast, led by Tymal Mills. They will be disappointed by their semi-final performance, but they have shown that they can compete in red and white ball formats.
Key player
Jack Carson was our One to Watch last year and he repaid that faith by being comfortably the leading spinner in Division Two, with 50 wickets at 22.46. However, having toured with the England Lions the last two winters, admitting things could have gone better on the last outing, he missed out this time around. The tall 24-year-old off spinner is still learning and will be keen to push himself back into England consideration as he takes on the top batters in the England game this summer.
One to watch
Henry Crocombe is only a year younger than Carson and has been building a reputation as an all-rounder such that he was selected for the England Lions training camp to South Africa this winter. This is despite first class career statistics to date of 69 wickets at 40.26 and 427 runs at 10.94 from 36 matches. He played only four Championship games last summer, in which he took 11 wickets at 23.18 and clearly Sussex will be hoping he can help cement their place in Division One. He will also want to build on his white ball skills, not having featured in the Blast in 2024.
Ins and Outs
Overseas signings: Daniel Hughes (Australia), Jayden Seales (West Indies, first block of County Championship games), Gurinder Sandhu (Australia, for June and July), Jaydev Unadkat (India, from 8 September)
Ins: George Thomas (Somerset), Nantes Oosthuizen (youth)
Outs: none
How will they fare
A priority will be to stay up in Division One and they have the resources to achieve this, particularly if Robinson remains available. The squad is unchanged from last year and success in the Blast will also be on the agenda.
Opening fixture: CC vs Warwickshire on April 4 at Edgbaston
Likely Championship XI
- Hughes
- Haines
- Clark
- Alsop
- Coles
- Simpson (WK)
- Carson
- Hudson-Prentice
- Crocombe
- Seales
- Robinson
