3 minute read
Director of Cricket: Keith Greenfield
AN EXCITING SUMMER AHEAD
I write this during Storm Eunice, which forced us to repair the marquee used in the nets for preseason training, and on the day that the government announced the end of Covid restrictions. We can look ahead to an exciting summer, including a game against the world Test champions New Zealand.
The last two Covid-dominated years have been extremely challenging, but we can look ahead to 2022 and beyond from a secure position and feeling positive about the future.
Pre-season went according to plan, and we managed to get into the marquee and on grass pitches a week ahead of schedule in mid-February, which in years gone by was unthinkable and would have sent shivers down the groundsman’s spine!
We have welcomed Grant Flower as lead batting coach which is a significant appointment. His expertise and experience from his roles with Sri Lanka and Pakistan will be invaluable. The return of Mike Yardy to lead our academy and pathway is also important, both in our strategy to produce highquality homegrown cricketers for our professional squad and in making sure our performance pathway activity enables this to happen.
Both are significant appointments to continue the development of our young playing squad and our player production line going forward. Grant and Mike add to the quality we already had in Ian Salisbury and James Kirtley. Together with Sarah Taylor and Ash Wright we believe we have the right coaching team to develop our young squad.
Last season we secured Steven Finn and Fynn Hudson-Prentice, who will add valuable experience, leadership and multi-format skills. We have already seen the qualities they offer off the pitch and look forward to them delivering their skills on the field too.
Six Sussex players represented England in 2021, the most we have had in one year, and this needs to remain a strong focus for the staff. It is one of the reasons why we are here. James Coles, Archie Lenham and Dan Ibrahim all played for England Lions too and are an example of the young talent we have been actively playing and developing.
Following our development strategy, we will continue developing a team that can compete and win in the years ahead. Yes, there will still be some bumps in the road but we need to stay on track and show patience and support.
This year we will have a very competitive team in the Vitality Blast because of the international quality we have in our squad. We hope to reach the knockout stages again and banish the
disappointment of losing at Finals Day in 2021. Let’s hope this year we are not hindered in the same way by the weather, which made qualifying from the group a brilliant achievement in itself.
The year ahead looks busy for our women’s team, who will participate in the ECB T20 competition, the London Championship and the Vipers Cup. Many of our girls will play for the Southern Vipers, take part in The Hundred and play for England. The majority of this activity is run at the Brighton Aldridge Cricket Academy and I urge you to go along there to support the teams.
During the winter we signed a new five-year partnership agreement with Oxfordshire Cricket, thus strengthening a hugely important relationship for us. We have seen players come through the performance pathway and into our professional squad and this integrated and combined programme will enable us to produce high-quality cricketers in future. Our thanks to Magdalen College for their support in running our Oxfordshire EPP and academy activity using their excellent facilities.
Keep well, stay safe and we look forward to supporters at Hove watching cricket in the sunshine with no restrictions.
