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Vitality Blast Preview: Sussex Sharks v Somerset
THE MATCH
Somerset travel to the 1st Central County Ground to take on Sussex Sharks in the Vitality Blast tomorrow (Friday May 26th).
Play is due to get underway at 7pm.
Tickets for this match are still available.
HOW CAN I KEEP UP TO DATE?
You can keep up to date with a live stream of the match along with a live blog via our dedicated Match Centre and also on our Twitter feed.
In addition to this, a report on the day’s play along with quotes will be posted on this website.
THE OPPOSITION
Sussex Sharks
Captain: Ravi Bopara
Overseas players: Nathan McAndrew (Australia), Shadab Khan (Pakistan), Ari Karvelas (Greece)
Finals day appearances: 5
Titles: 1 (2009)
2022 finish: Seventh (South Group)
2022 highest run-scorer: Tom Alsop (318)
2022 highest wicket-taker: Tymal Mills (15)
TEAM NEWS
Somerset will be without Sonny Baker (back), and the Club have named an unchanged squad.
If selected for the match, Tom Banton will make his 100th appearance in T20 cricket.
The starting XI will be selected from the following squad: Lewis Gregory*, Tom Abell, Tom Banton, Josh Davey, Lewis Goldsworthy, Ben Green, Matt Henry, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Tom Lammonby, Craig Overton, Peter Siddle, Will Smeed and Roelof van der Merwe
VIEW FROM THE DRESSING ROOM
Ahead of the game, Somerset Head Coach, Jason Kerr said: “We’re coming off the back of a brilliant performance in the first game, but Hove is a tough place to go and Sussex are a strong white-ball side.
“We’ve got a phenomenal bowling attack and they were able to exploit the conditions on Wednesday night. To see Bants in the runs as well was really positive for us moving forward. It was a great way to start the campaign, but we won’t be getting carried away.
“The South Group is strong this year and it’s a challenge that we are all looking forward to, especially after how they guys performed against Hampshire.”
CLASSIC MATCH
For today’s classic match we go back in time to the summer of 2018 when the two sides met at Hove in a match which Somerset won by three wickets.
Lewis Gregory won the toss and invited the hosts to bat first.
Phil Salt and Luke Wright both fell for five within the opening four overs but 96 from Laurie Evans from just 67 balls helped the Sharks to 169 for five from their 20 overs.
29 off 17 balls from Johann Myburgh gave Somerset a solid start and important contributions from Roelof van der Merwe (34 from 19), Tom Abell (30 from 21) and James Hildreth (25 off 20) helped steer the visitors to victory for the loss of seven wickets with just three balls to spare.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
You can find out everything that you need to know about attending the game via the Official Sussex Website.
NEXT MATCH
Somerset’s next match is on Sunday when we welcome Glamorgan to the Cooper Associates County Ground in the Vitality Blast.
This match is a double header and will also feature Western Storm v South East Stars.
Tickets for this match are still available.
