AND GIRLS HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Sussex continue to provide cricket to a huge array of opportunities through school, club and county cricket for women and girls in the county. Along with the professionalisation of the game through regional and franchise cricket it is easy to say that there has never been a better time to be playing the game.

2023 sees an increase in the number of professional contracts at a regional level as well as increases in salaries. Southern Vipers continue to dominate the regional circuit with Sussex captain, Georgia Adams, leading them to two finals again last year.

Freya Kemp made her Vipers and England debut last year while she still had a year left at school. The increase in professional opportunities through The Hundred competition, the IPL and the Big Bash means that the journey from primary school to the biggest arenas in the world is now pretty seamless.

Sussex continue to be a hugely important part of the development process with 13 players representing England or regional teams, and another ten representing the Regional Academy and Elite Player Pathway squads. The pathway continues to be one of the biggest in the country with over 160 girls included in the winter and summer programme based at the Sir Rod Aldridge Cricket Centre at BACA.

This season, Sussex Women will look to retain their T20 title in April and May with Finals Day at Hove on May 14. They will also compete in the South-Central Cricket Cup with the counties who form the Southern Vipers region and the London Championship with Middlesex, Surrey, Kent and Essex.

It’s a hugely exciting year for all Sussex players with a bumper fixture list while 2023 marks the 20th anniversary since Sussex Women won their inaugural County Championship just two months before Sussex Men achieved the same feat.

Alexia Walker