Coach: Ian Salisbury

OUT OF CHANGE COMES OPPORTUNITY

Welcome everyone to 2022 and hopefully a return to normality and county cricket as we used to know it. To have no restrictions and crowds back as normal is so exciting.

The return to two division cricket is bittersweet as it means, unlike the last two years, we cannot win the County Championship. It means also we won’t be able to play sides like Hampshire, Essex, Kent, Surrey, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Gloucestershire and Northants like in the last two years.

As a result of where we finished in 2019, we are in the second division. I’m sure our first opponents of 2022 Nottinghamshire will feel this to be unjust after going into the final week of last season with a chance to win the Championship! But equally, I’m sure Northants and Gloucestershire would feel just as disappointed if their efforts in 2019 went unrecognised.

The Covid years have meant big changes on and off the pitch at Sussex since the start of 2020. Players leaving: Luke Wells, Laurie Evans, Danny Briggs, Harry Finch, Will Sheffield, Phil Salt, Chris Jordan, Ben Brown, Stuart Meaker, Mitch Claydon, Aaron Thomason, Stiaan Van Zyl, David Wiese. Coaches leaving: Jason Gillespie, Richard Halsall, Jon Lewis and Jason Swift. We wish them all well and thank them for everything they did for Sussex.

At the same time, it has meant the arrival of new faces. Players in: Jack Carson, Henry Crocombe, Tom Clark, Sean Hunt, Jamie Atkins, Ali Orr, Oli Carter, Archie Lenham, James Coles, Dan Ibrahim, Steven Finn, Fynn Hudson-Prentice, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammad Rizwan, Josh Philippe and summer contracts Harrison Ward and Tom Hinley. Coaches in: James Kirtley, Grant Flower, Sarah Taylor, Ash Wright, Mike Yardy and Ian Salisbury.

Covid has been at the centre of unprecedented change in all our lives, and as the above illustrates cricket and indeed Sussex Cricket is no different, particularly when you add a new 100-ball competition into the mix. Sussex cricket has also seen unprecedented change. As Socrates said, “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” Out of change comes opportunity.

There have been various opinions on the success of this period of time and the journey we are undertaking, but the journey has started where we want to be competing in all competitions

SEAN HUNT WILL BE HOPING TO KICK ON AFTER GETTING FIRST-TEAM EXPOSURE IN 2021

with homegrown Sussex players and players from elsewhere that have become Sussex-fied, while all the time producing England players.

This balance is not always easy to attain and we ask for patience in the development of this vision. Six Sussex players made England debuts last season: Ollie Robinson, Phil Salt, George Garton for the senior sides and Ibrahim, Coles and Lenham for the under-19s. Meanwhile, Tymal Mills returned to England colours, as we hope Jofra Archer will before too long as well.

Add in Tom Haines as the top scorer in English domestic cricket, Jack Carson picked for a select counties side versus India and the fact the youngest side ever put out in county cricket (average age 19) took a full-strength Worcestershire side all the way to the last half an hour on the fourth day. There is plenty to be optimistic and excited for in the next few years for Sussex cricket.

Recruitment, both domestically and overseas, will be crucial in the development of this young squad on the pitch and the reason why the recruitment of the backroom staff off the pitch is equally as important.

As with anything worth achieving in life, it will take hard work, periods of difficulty, some pain and some tears, but I assure you, this squad understand that anything worth having is worth working for. The backroom staff are fully behind the squad and will work equally as hard. I ask of every supporter who joins us to make sure this is an enjoyable journey and show patience. The squad has worked very hard this winter and fully buy into bringing sustained success back to Sussex in the future, backed fully by everyone involved at the club. We want to bring joy to every single supporter of Sussex, so please get behind every player and every Sussex team that are brave enough to go out into the arena. Above all, enjoy the journey with us!

GOSBTS.