Delray Rawlins and his Sussex teammates next season is starting to take shape with full details of group games in the 2021 County Championship.
As previously announced, Sussex is playing alongside Glamorgan, Kent, Lancashire, Northamptonshire, and Yorkshire in group three of the seeded group stage of the competition.
Ian Salisbury’s men will kick-off the campaign with the visit of Lancashire to The 1st Central County Ground from Thursday, April 8th to Sunday, April 11th.
A trip to Sophia Gardens to take on Glamorgan follows between Thursday, April 15th, and Sunday, April 18th, before Yorkshire comes to the Hove for the first time since 2015 from Thursday, April 22nd to Sunday, April 25th.
Skipper Ben Brown, Chris Jordan, and Ollie Robinson are the only current Sussex four-day players who also featured during the White Rose county’s last visit.
The return fixture against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford takes place between Thursday, April 29th and Sunday, May 2nd with a trip to Northamptonshire from Thursday, May 6th to Sunday, May 9th making it two away games in a row.
Consecutive home games at The 1st Central County Ground against Kent - Thursday, May 13th to Sunday, May 16th and Northamptonshire Thursday, May 27th to Sunday, May 30th are next.
Thursday, June 3rd to Sunday, June 6th sees Sussex head to Headingley – again for the first time in six seasons – to play Yorkshire, before the Championship pauses for the rest of June.
Action restarts on Sunday, July 4th when Glamorgan visits The 1st Central County Ground for four days. The group stage concludes between Sunday, July 11th and Wednesday, July 15th when Sussex meets Kent at Beckenham for just their second-ever first-class match at the South London venue and their first since Kent’s nine-wicket win in July 1893.
At this point, the top two teams from each group will go into division one, third, and fourth into division two and fifth and sixth into division three for another four matches – two at home and two away. These will be played on Monday, August 30th to Thursday, September 2nd, Sunday, September 5th to Wednesday, September 8th, Sunday, September 12th to Wednesday, September 15th, and Tuesday, September 21st to Friday, September 24th.
The winner of division one will be crowned 2021 County Champions, before taking on the runners up in a five-day match at Lord’s between Monday, September 27th, and Friday, October 1st.
The 1st Central County Ground is currently listed as the venue for all of Sussex’s home matches in the competition, but it is hoped that it will be possible to play one match at Arundel Castle subject to the COVID-19 situation.
Sussex’s remaining fixtures for the 2021 season in the Vitality Blast and Royal London Cup will be announced in the New Year.
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