PREVIEW: The Saffrons ends exile as county venue
13 May 2017
It's 17 years since Sussex staged a first team fixture at Eastbourne, and Gloucestershire have the honour of being their opponents as county cricket returns to The Saffrons on Sunday in the form of a South group match in the Royal London Cup.
The venue, which is multi-purpose and also acts as home to Eastbourne Town FC and Eastbourne Hockey Club, staged first class cricket for more than a century until 2000, when a Championship match against Northamptonshire ended early on the third day. Criticism over the pitch and facilities meant it has been a long wait for Sussex to return.
Gloucestershire cannot now qualify for the knockout stages after being beaten by Somerset, but their hosts go into the match with a live chance and wins in their last two games could see them make the play offs for a place in the semi finals.
The match could see both Chris Liddle and Tom Smith play against one of their former employers. Smith was actually born in Eastbourne, while Liddle has played at The Saffrons in a club fixture.
"I'm sure it'll be a great occasion for Eastbourne Cricket Club" Liddle said. "The playing area is quite short square of the wicket and the pitch when I played there was quite slow, as tends to be the case at out grounds, but with the dry weather we've had it could be really hard and flying through."
Whatever the conditions, head coach Richard Dawson wants a response to the defeat by Somerset on Friday.
"I want to see 100% effort in the field and we need our skill levels to be higher" said Dawson. "We've had some costly dropped catches in the last few games - Cook at Essex, Rudolph against Glamorgan, and Hose against Somerset - and we've got a lot to play for in terms of pride in the last two matches."
Gloucestershire squad:
Klinger (c), Mustard, Dent, Cockbain, van Buuren, Hankins, J.Taylor, Howell, Smith, Norwell, Liddle, Miles, M.Taylor
Coverage :
You can follow the match via the live scorecard available on the website, or via Twitter @Gloscricket
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