Sussex face run of one-day games

Sussex's short-game woes have continued into the county's Royal London One-Day Cup campaign.

The Sharks struggled to assert themselves in this season's Natwest T20 Blast! competition despite posting a world record run chase in their last group game.

Luke Wright led the way with a whopping unbeaten 153 from just 66 balls, including 12 fours and 11 sixes, as the Sharks rounded off their frustrating T20 season with a resounding win.

If, however, they had hoped to carry that run-plundering form into the opening matches in the Royal London One-Day Cup, they will have been disappointed.

A first match defeat to Nottinghamshire was followed up by a second straight loss to Warwickshire. The second One Day Cup defeat was particularly poor, with Sussex being bowled out for just 155 with more than ten of their 50 overs remaining.

That resulted in a thumping 118 run defeat, with Ed Joyce top- scoring with 47 and just two other batsman (Yasir Arafat and Luke Wells) managing more than 20 at the crease.

Next up are Durham at the BrightonandHoveJobs.com County Ground in Hove on Tuesday, starting at 2pm, followed by a visit to Surrey the following day.

If Sussex can bag a pair of wins from those two fixtures it would certainly provide a timely boost to local fans of the short form.

Sussex have manage to claw their way to relative safety in the long-form LV County Championship and sit fifth of nine teams despite earlier flirting with the perilous bottom two positions.

They now have five one day games in a row before their next County Championship game, two of which are at Hove.

The Royal London One-Day Cup has been introduced by the ECB in a bid to replicate the popular 50 over international games at a county level and encourage more fans to head to watch live cricket.

And as an incentive to get young supporters down to Hove, the county is offering free entry to all children under the age of 18 for the Durham game on Tuesday.

Entry is also free to Standard members, while Martlet members qualify for discounted entry of £10.

Tickets are £15 for adults and are available now online at: www. sussexcricket.co.uk or by calling 0844 264 0201.