County Championship Preview | Sussex v Gloucestershire
25 September 2023
Gloucestershire travel to the south coast on Tuesday, hoping to round off their 2023 season with a win away to Paul Farbrace’s Sussex.
Maximum points from the final match of the season could see Gloucestershire leapfrog Derbyshire to finish sixth in the County Championship Division Two.
Reigning World Champions England play their final World Cup warm-up game against Ireland in Bristol on Tuesday 26th September.
Team news
Dale Benkenstein makes one change from the squad selected to face Derbyshire with Zaman Akhter replacing Dom Goodman in the thirteen.
Akhter’s 17 wickets in the County Championship this season places him third on the list of leading wickets takers this season for the Club, behind only Zafar Gohar (28) and Tom Price (17).
Miles Hammond leads the way in terms of runs this year with 758, with the PCA Player of the Month for August, Ollie Price, hot on his heels with 714.
Your 13-player Gloucestershire squad to face Sussex:
Graeme van Buuren*, Zaman Akhter, James Bracey, Ben Charlesworth, Luke Charlesworth, Chris Dent, Zafar Gohar, Miles Hammond, Ed Middleton, Joe Phillips, Ollie Price, Josh Shaw, Matt Taylor.
Last time out
Ollie Price hit his third first-class century of the season before rain hampered the Shire’s winning pursuit, ultimately drawing to East Midlands outfit Derbyshire.
Zafar Gohar’s five-wicket-haul early on day three had kept all results possible going into the latter part of the match, but a stop-start rest of the day meant a draw looked the only likely result.
The Glos top order was under pressure early on day four, but when debutant Ed Middleton and captain Graeme van Buuren came together, a 77-run partnership took the sting out of the occasion before the teams shook hands at 16:20.
Our opponents
Sussex looked on course to enter the final two matches of the red ball season with promotion on the cards after beating Leicestershire by 15 runs until a disciplinary charge last week saw them docked 12 points.
Effectively then already knocked out of the promotion race before their tie against Derbyshire, the Sharks could only muster a draw in their most recent match, putting to bed prospects of Division One cricket at Hove next season for good.
Last meeting
Cheteshwar Pujara’s 151 laid a platform for Sussex to take the game to Gloucestershire at the Seat Unique Stadium earlier this season but rain ultimately won as the two sides drew the reverse fixture in April.
Zafar Gohar is the only survivor from the four-pronged Glos attack that appeared in that fixture, with Ajeet Singh Dale, Marchant de Lange and Tom Price all still recovering from injuries that have cut short their seasons.
How to watch
Gloucestershire face Sussex in the County Championship beginning on Tuesday 26th September September at 10:30am at the The 1st Central County Ground, Hove.
The game can be watched live in the Glos Cricket Match Centre. Coverage begins at 10:20.
