Sussex return delights Arundel cricket chiefs

FRIENDS of Arundel Castle Cricket Club & Cricket Foundation executive secretary James Rufey admitted his delight after Sussex announced they would be returning once again in 2016.
The Arundel Castle ground draws large crowds for Sussex gamesThe Arundel Castle ground draws large crowds for Sussex games
The Arundel Castle ground draws large crowds for Sussex games

With next season’s fixtures out, Arundel has been named as Sussex’s only outground for next summer, with two scheduled matches due in their annual Festival of Cricket.

Arundel will host Sussex’s county championship division two clash with Northamptonshire from Wednesday, June 22 to Saturday 25, while Gloucestershire visit for a T20 Blast clash on Sunday, June 26.

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The annual Festival of Cricket at Arundel will be Sussex’s only action away from Hove this campaign after Horsham was cut from next season’s schedule.

Rufey said: “It’s marvellous to have Sussex here again next season. Having first-class cricket is an important piece in our jigsaw in providing one of the most outstanding cricketing and educational programmes in the world.

“Indeed Gloucestershire are one of my former employers and I have a few friends still there so it will be nice to welcome them to Arundel.”

Last year’s festival proved to be a huge success for Arundel and 8,000 attended Sussex’s T20 Blast clash with Surrey. That saw the ground at near capacity and Rufey is hoping for similar numbers again next year.

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He said: “Last year we had great numbers for the T20 game against Surrey. They had Kevin Pietersen in their side that day and are local to us, so that helped boost the attendance.

“But we will be hoping once again to have good attendances over the course of festival next year. It is a Wednesday start and so we hope to attract many businesses into this wonderful ground.”

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