Preview: Sussex v Warwickshire, Metro Bank One Day Cup

Warwickshire welcome back spinner Danny Briggs as they look to close out an impressive Metro Bank One Day Cup group campaign with victory at Sussex to rubber stamp a semi-final spot.

briggford

2023-08-21T13:49:48.000Z

Warwickshire welcome back spinner Danny Briggs as they look to close out an impressive Metro Bank One Day Cup group campaign with victory at Sussex to rubber stamp a semi-final spot.

An agonizing one-run defeat at home to Durham on Sunday means the Bears still need another point to guarantee a place in the last four and a home tie on Tuesday 29 August.

Briggs has been released by Oval Invincibles and is included in a 14-man squad for Tuesday’s (22 August) trip to Hove.

Michael Burgess is rested for the game and will be replaced behind the stumps by either Alex Davies or Kai Smith.

First Team Coach Mark Robinson knows a superior run rate (1.494) over league chasers Worcestershire (0.533) and Gloucestershire (0.697) – who’ve both ensured qualification from Group B – should still be enough even if his side lose at bottom-placed Sussex.

“It’ll need a big swing in the run rate for us to miss out on top spot,” he said. “But we can’t take it for granted.

“That’s one of the frustrations at losing to Durham – a game we should have won – as I would have loved to rest a couple of players at Sussex ahead of the knockouts and our four remaining championship games.

“Fatigue can play a part, the games are coming thick and fast again, and that’s why we’re giving Burgy a rest. We’re lucky in that we’ve got Al and Kai who can both step in.”

Robinson said his side put themselves in several game-winning positions against Durham – their first defeat in an otherwise blemish-free league run – but couldn’t close the game out as they chased a big 338 total.

He added: “We got ourselves into positions to go on and win. 165/2; five down and only needing six-and-a-half an over; and the last five overs needing seven an over. We should win in those positions especially against an inexperienced bowling attack.

“But it was a big chase. It was a great game of cricket, a great innings by Bedingham (152) and we had our own hero in Barnard (161) but ultimately his runs were in vain.

“The change of role has helped him, given him batting confidence, and alongside Olly we have arguably the One Day Cup’s two most valuable players right now.”

Sussex lie bottom of Group B with one win from seven games – that coming on 11 August with a four-wicket win at Somerset – and the match-up pitches the Bears against former Director of Cricket Paul Farbrace for the first time since he left Edgbaston last October.

Squad

Ed BarnardJacob BethellMichael BoothDanny BriggsEthan BrookesHenry BrookesAlex DaviesOlly Hannon-DalbyJake LintottCraig MilesWill RhodesHamza ShaikhKai SmithRob Yates

How to Follow

Members and supporters can follow the match live in our Match Centre at edgbaston.com, which will include a free to watch Live Stream, with BBC commentary, and a live text commentary.

Supporters can get involved by sending their match day comments and thoughts on Twitter via @WarwickshireCCC and we’ll publish the best ones on our live text commentary in the Match Centre.

Supporters can also watch the Live Stream and get instant push notifications of all wickets, innings and match results via the Edgbaston app, which is free to download on iOS and Android.

Match updates will also be available across the Club’s social media accounts, simply search for @WarwickshireCCC.