Sussex trials may uncover their next county cricket star

The county club opened their doors to 90 male trialists from far and wide who were hoping to impress the watching Paul Farbrace and his professional coaching team.

More than 150 applicants were whittled down to 90, who were all invited to the Indoor School at The 1st Central County Ground at Hove in an attempt to secure a professional cricketing contract.

In recent years, both Ari Karvelas and Brad Currie have been beneficiaries of this opportunity, both going on to forge successful careers wearing the Martlets.

Speaking to The Cricketer, Farbrace said: ""There are so many elite cricketers playing in leagues and National Counties who are not getting opportunities to play first-class cricket. So, these sort of days are absolutely vital, a must.

"Our responsibility as a club is to make sure every door, every avenue is open. Football has had late developers like Ian Wright, Jamie Vardy and Stuart Pearce, and cricket can have the same."

A successful day eventually finished with 14 of the 90 being invited back by the Club for further trials.

Sussex Cricket are also staging open trials for female players, to be held at the Sir Rod Aldridge Cricket Centre at the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy on Saturday, March 1.

The trial is for any female aged 16 or over. Applicants should send their cricketing CV to [email protected] by next Friday (Feb 14).