Sussex set for pink-ball day-night championship clash

Sussex have named a squad of 12 for the day-night Specsavers County Championship match against Gloucestershire, starting on Monday at Hove.
Chris Nash is in the squad / Picture by Phil WestlakeChris Nash is in the squad / Picture by Phil Westlake
Chris Nash is in the squad / Picture by Phil Westlake

Vernon Philander has linked up with South Africa after his stint as overseas player and George Garton is not available because he is in the England Lions squad for their game against the tourists later this week.

Into the squad come Abi Sakande, who took five second-innings wickets in Sussex’s victory over South Africa A recently, and fellow fast bowler Stuart Whittingham.

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This round of Championship fixtures is being played partly under floodlights with a pink Dukes ball. Each day’s play starts at 2pm and admission for the final two sessions is just £10.

The squad have been practising with the pink ball over the weekend and Head Coach Mark Davis is intrigued as to how it will react, especially under lights.

He said: “It’s a bit of an unknown for everyone but a challenge we are relishing. We have Ben Brown leading the team for the first time since his appointment as captain and we’ve got some momentum after winning our last two Championship matches. There will be a lot of interest over the next four days and we’re looking forward to testing ourselves against a good Gloucestershire side.”

Play starts at 2pm with the first interval between 4-40pm and tea 6.40-7pm.

The Sussex squad is:

Ben Brown ©

Chris Nash

Harry Finch

Luke Wells

Stiaan van Zyl

Luke Wright

Chris Jordan

David Wiese

Jofra Archer

Danny Briggs

Abi Sakande

Stuart Whittingham