Luke Wright on why he stepped down as Sussex Sharks T20 Blast skipper

Ravi Bopara will take over the reins for the 2022 Vitality Blast campaign – although Wright is expected to remain a key member of the line-up.

Wright first joined Sussex in 2004, becoming T20 captain in 2015, and has had a distinguished career with Sussex.

Although Wright will continue to play for the Sharks, he has decided to call time on his captaincy after 104 appearances as T20 skipper.

Wright told us: “I’ve been doing it (captain) for seven years and I just wanted to enjoy my cricket really.

“We’ve had plenty of things going on and around off the pitch over the past seven years and I just wanted to get away from all that and just get back to trying to enjoying cricket.

One of the world's best - and he's Sussex's.

“I’ve been here nearly 20-years and captain seven, we’ve done some really good stuff in T20, but unfortunately not quite got over the line on finals day.

“It was a tough decision to make but I knew it was the right one, so I’m pleased I’ve done it.”

Wright believes Bopara is a good fit for the captaincy and he is looking forward to working under him.

“I’m pleased for Ravi; I’ve known him since I was 18 years old. We played in the England under-19s when we were both 18 so I’ve known Ravi for a long time and played huge amounts of cricket with him for England as well.

“He’s a great fella, similar sort of mould to myself really, I’d say. He’s pretty relaxed with the guys but I’m sure he’s going to have his own ideas that he will bring to the side, and I look forward to trying to help him.”

Wright spoke of the club’s ambition to win the T20 this year after defeat to eventual winners Kent in last season’s semi-final at Edgbaston.

“That’s got to be the aim hasn’t it? The aim is to win it. When we’ve got our full side out, we’re very strong but the challenge for Sussex always is, if we have IPL or England call-ups and so on, is our squad then strong enough to be able to cope? That’s always been our biggest problem.

“We’ve certainly got to be there; we pride ourselves on finals day. I think we’ve been at the quarter-final stages for four years running so it’s definitely the aim to get to finals day and let’s hope we go a step further.”