Warwickshire Bears will look to make it three wins in succession in the T20 Vitality Blast when they entertain Sussex Sharks at Edgbaston Stadium on Wednesday 1 July.
The fixture is part of a second doubleheader in the space of five days at The People’s Home of Cricket, with the women’s team playing Essex at 3:00pm followed by the men’s game that starts at 7:00pm.
Here’s all you need to know as Ed Barnard’s men look to continue their good form…
Team news
The Bears have named a 17-player squad for the visit of Sussex, with the playing XI set to be announced at the toss.
Squad: Ed Barnard, Richard Gleeson, Rob Yates, Zen Malik, Olly Hannon-Dalby, Usman Tariq, Chris Woakes, Sam Hain, Taz Ali, Vansh Jani, Hamza Shaikh, Alex Davies, Dan Mousley, Jordan Thompson, Beau Webster, Kai Smith, George Garton.
Current form
After a difficult start to the Blast, the Bears have bounced back in emphatic fashion in their last two outings.
Faced with the prospect of taking on Somerset in Taunton, the Bears picked up their first win of the season after chasing down 216 for victory. After a two week break in the tournament, they returned on Friday evening in front of a bumper crowd at Edgbaston to run out 59-run winners against local rivals Worcestershire, a result that keeps their hopes for this year’s tournament alive.
In the South Group, Sussex are also in need of a strong finish to the group-stage in order to progress. They have an identical record to the Bears through seven games, with two wins and five losses, and arrive at Edgbaston having slipped to defeat in their last game against Surrey be seven wickets.
Previous meetings
Incredibly, this will be only the second time Warwickshire Bears and Sussex Sharks have played each other in the men’s T20 Blast.
That came in the Quarter Finals in 2009, where a 47-ball 56 from Jonathan Trott couldn’t inspire the Bears to victory, as they fell to a 38-run loss to Sussex who would go on to be crowned champions that year.
Due to the change in format for the 2026 season, where teams make up three groups of six rather than the previous ten, there has been a reduction of group-stage matches to 12. Each team plays the five sides in their group home and away, in addition to one home match against a county outside their group and one away match against another county from outside their group. The visit of Sussex to Edgbaston is the Bears’ home fixture against a county outside their group.
Players to watch
Zen Malik
Zen Malik announced himself as a T20 opener last Friday, scoring a blistering 46-ball 99 against Worcestershire to put his side in complete control. It was an outstanding innings from Malik in just his fourth T20 for the Bears after he made his first start in the Blast at the end of May.
Beau Webster
Alongside Malik’s brilliance on Friday, Beau Webster struck 79 off 44 balls to continue his fine run of form in T20s. The Australian has been pivotal to the Bears’ two successive wins, with his 79 coming after he had smashed 112 off 61 balls in the win over Somerset. He is currently the second-highest run-scorer in this year’s competition.
Tymal Mills (Sussex)
With ten wickets in seven games so far for Somerset in this year’s Blast, Tymal Mills is the team’s leading wicket-taker. The left-arm quick continues to bowl impressive spells at pace. Having played franchise cricket all over the world, and with this fixture being a must-win fixture for Sussex, he’ll look forward to the big occasion.