The 2025 English county cricket season begins on 4 April when 18 counties will play across Divisions One and Two of the Rothesay County Championship.

Sussex were champions of Division Two last year and will be playing in the top tier of the first-class game for the first time since 2015.

Former England assistant coach Paul Farbrace led the south coast side to promotion and will set the goal of remaining in Division One.

You can read all our Division Two previews here.

2024 season

Last season was a memorable season for Sussex as they returned to Division One after nine years away.

They finished 20 points ahead of second-placed Yorkshire after winning eight of their 14 games, drawing four and losing two.

Half of their victories were by an innings, with the biggest being an innings and 124-run win against bottom side Derbyshire in May.

They were also one of the best sides in the Vitality Blast, in which they reached the semi-finals before losing by eight wickets to eventual winners Gloucestershire.

They won nine of their 14 group games and beat Lancashire by eight wickets at Emirates Old Trafford in their away quarter-final.

On the other hand, the Metro Bank One Day Cup was a shocker. They lost seven out of eight games, including their first six in a row, and picked up fewer points than all 17 other counties.

Captain and wicketkeeper John Simpson had an unbelievable first-class season with bat and behind the stumps, scoring the third most runs in Division Two and taking the second most amount of dismissals.

The 36-year-old scored 1,197 runs at an average of 74.81 and hit five centuries, including 205* against Leicestershire. He also picked up 44 dismissals behind the stumps, only behind Gloucestershire’s James Bracey (59).

Young off-spinner Jack Carson was the county’s leading bowler with 50 wickets at an average of 22.46, being the third-highest wicket-taker and leading spinner in the division.

England’s Ollie Robinson also finished in the top five bowlers for the second tier with 39 wickets at 25.53.

Tom Haines led the way with the bat in the One Day Cup, scoring 326 runs at 46.57 and one hundred.

Fast bowler Henry Crocombe took 10 wickets in the competition, averaging 25 with best figures of 4/47 against Yorkshire.

Australian overseas Daniel Hughes was the highest run-scorer in the whole T20 Blast tournament. The opener scored 596 runs at 39.73 with five half-centuries.

Former England seamer Tymal Mills took 24 wickets and averaged less than 20 as he finished fourth on the wickets chart.

Youngster James Cole had a brilliant all-round tournament, hitting 354 runs at 32.18 and taking 20 wickets.

Squad

Paul Farbrace will head into his third season in charge of the county since being appointed in December 2022.

The 57-year-old has experience with both the Sri Lanka and England national sides, having been head coach of the former when they won both the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup in 2014 and assistant coach to Trevor Bayliss for almost four years with England.

Former head coach Mark Robinson has returned to the coaching staff on a short-term deal after leaving Warwickshire in the winter.

He led Sussex to six trophies in 10 years from 2005 to 2015 before winning the Women’s World Cup with England in 2017.

John Simpson will remain captain of the first-class and 50-over sides after last year’s Championship success.

The wicketkeeper only joined from Middlesex in October 2023 but led the side excellently in his debut season and scored 1,572 runs across all formats.

He has scored over 10,000 first-class runs and made 15 centuries in 16 seasons. He also played three ODIs for England in 2021.

Tymal Mills will captain the county in the Blast. The 32-year-old has almost 300 career T20 wickets and has played 16 times for England in the format, taking 14 wickets.

Overseas players Jayden Seales, Daniel Hughes, Nathan McAndrew and Jaydev Unadkat will all return to the 1st Central County Ground in 2025.

Seales will be available for the first seven matches of the Championship season while Hughes is set to play in all first-class and T20 matches.

Unadkat will arrive to play the final three red-ball games in September and McAndrew will join up with the squad in June and July, as will fellow Australian Gurinder Sandhu.

Both Aussie fast bowlers will be available for Championship and T20 games.

Farbrace has also brought in Somerset all-rounder George Thomas, who has scored over 600 runs in 23 white-ball matches with a best of 106* in the One Day Cup.

The 21-year-old has signed a two-year deal to play at Hove.

Youngsters Nantes Oosthuizen and Troy Henry have both signed rookie deals with the county. Oosthuizen is a fast bowler while Henry bowls left-arm spin.

Four Sussex players will take part in The Hundred this summer: Jofra Archer, Tymal Mills, James Coles (all Southern Brave) and Tom Alsop (Trent Rockets).

Full squad (as of 26/03/25):

Batters – Tom Clark, Tom Haines, Daniel Hughes (O), Zach Lion-Cachet, Harrison Ward

All-rounders – James Coles, Bertie Foreman, Fynn Hudson-Prentice, Danial Ibrahim, Danny Lamb, Henry Rogers, George Thomas

Wicketkeepers – Tom Alsop, Oli Carter, John Simpson (CC and OD captain), Charlie Tear

Fast bowlers – Jofra Archer, Jack Campbell, Henry Crocombe, Brad Currie, Sean Hunt, Ari Karvelas, Nathan McAndrew (O), Tymal Mills (T20 captain), Nantes Oosterhuizen, Ollie Robinson, Gurinder Sandhu (O), Jayden Seales (O), Jaydev Unadkat (O)

Spinners – Jack Carson, Troy Henry, Archie Lenham

Overseas Players

Sussex have focused on strengthening their bowling attack with their overseas signings, with four out of five of them being pace bowlers.

West Indian Jayden Seales played six first-class matches at the start of last season and took 24 wickets at 24.25, including two five-wicket hauls.

The 23-year-old has played 18 Test matches and picked up 75 wickets at 22.26, being one of the most promising young bowlers in international cricket.

Left-armer Jaydev Unadkat had the best bowling average of all Sussex bowlers in last year’s Championship.

The Indian took 22 wickets in just five games, averaging only 14.40. The 33-year-old has played four Test matches and taken three wickets, whilst having exactly 400 dismissals in domestic first-class matches.

Australian Nathan McAndrew also impressed in a short spell last season, taking 11 wickets in just two matches.

In 55 red-ball matches in his career, the 31-year-old has taken 216 wickets at 25.36. He initially joined Sussex in 2023 and will be heading into his third season with the club.

Fellow Aussie Gurinder Sandhu has never played county cricket before but has over 150 first-class wickets and has international experience having played two ODIs in 2015.

He also has over 200 white-ball wickets and has played in the Big Bash League for over 12 years.

Daniel Hughes, the only overseas batter and the third Australian in the side, will return for his second season with the county after making a big impression in his first year on English soil.

The 36-year-old scored more runs in the T20 Blast than any other player in the tournament and also played four Division Two games.

Despite his short red-ball spell, he still scored 340 runs at 56.66 and hit 144 against Derbyshire.

Key Player

As they return to Division One for the first time in 10 years, Sussex will need experienced players to step up and lead the way for them.

One of them will be Ollie Robinson, who will be looking to reclaim a spot in England’s Test team.

The 31-year-old has 76 wickets in the format with an average of just 22.92 and appeared to be the natural successor to James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

However, he has struggled with injury and fitness issues and has been out of the side since the tour to India at the beginning of last year.

But after being one of the highest wicket-takers in Division Two last season, he will want to continue his form and earn a recall to the national squad ahead of big series against India and England.

As the spearhead of Sussex’s bowling attack with 351 red-ball wickets for the county, Robinson will be the most important player in their side as one of the most skilled and experienced English fast bowlers.

He also had one of his best T20 campaigns with 18 wickets in 15 games, more than a quarter of his career wickets in the format.

If he has a similarly successful season in the shortest format, then he will form a deadly opening partnership with Jofra Archer.

One to look out for

He may already be well-known to a lot of county fans but off-spinner Jack Carson could have a season that gives him a chance of being on the plane for the winter’s Ashes series.

The 24-year-old, who was born in Ireland, has already taken 150 first-class wickets in 50 matches and averages 32.32. He has also scored 11 half-centuries with the bat, with a top score of 97.

The spinner trained with England during the 2023 Ashes so will be a player who head coach Brendon McCullum is aware of.

Carson was the leading spinner in Division Two last year and an impressive season at a higher level could see him leapfrog Shoaib Bashir, Jack Leach, Rehan Ahmed and Tom Hartley.

Prediction

After ten years out of the top flight, Sussex should aim to remain in Division One this season.

They have a good blend of experience and youth but perhaps not enough quality to challenge further up the table.

In the One Day Cup, they will hope to vastly improve on last year’s miserable campaign and should aim for a quarter-final match.

They will be a lot stronger again in the T20 Blast and will expect to reach the knockout rounds again, with a view to exceeding last season and reaching the final.

Jofra Archer may also be available for most of the tournament, which will be a sight for Sussex fans to look forward to.

Sussex’s county season gets underway on Friday 4 April when they will face Warwickshire at Edgbaston in Birmingham.