Sussex

Sussex (/ˈsʌsᵻks/; abbreviated Sx), from the Old English Sūþsēaxe ('South Saxons'), is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. Clockwise, it is bounded to the west by Hampshire; north by Surrey, north-east by Kent, south by the English Channel and is divided for local government into West Sussex and East Sussex and the city of Brighton and Hove. Brighton and Hove was created as a unitary authority in 1997, and was granted City status in 2000. Until then, Chichester had been Sussex's only city.

Sussex has three main geographic sub-regions, each oriented approximately east to west. In the south-west of the county lies the fertile and densely populated coastal plain. North of this lie the rolling chalk hills of the South Downs, beyond which lies the well-wooded Sussex Weald.

The name 'Sussex' derives from the Kingdom of Sussex, according to legend it was founded by Ælle of Sussex in 477 AD, then in 825 it was absorbed into the kingdom of Wessex and the later kingdom of England. The region's roots go back further to the location of some of Europe's earliest hominid finds at Boxgrove. Sussex has been a key location for England's major invasions, including the Roman invasion of Britain and the Battle of Hastings.

Sussex County Cricket Club

Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The club was founded as a successor to the various Sussex county cricket teams, including the old Brighton Cricket Club, which had been representative of the county of Sussex as a whole since the 1720s. These teams always had major status and so the county club is rated accordingly from inception: i.e., classified as an unofficial first-class team by substantial sources from 1839 to 1894; classified as an official first-class team from 1895 by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the County Championship clubs; classified as a List A team since the beginning of limited overs cricket in 1963; and classified as a major Twenty20 team since 2003.

The club colours are traditionally blue and white and the shirt sponsors are Palmer and Harvey for all LV County Championship and Royal London One-Day Cup matches and Jointing Technologies for NatWest Blast T20 matches. Its home ground is the County Cricket Ground, Hove. Sussex also play matches around the county at Arundel, Eastbourne and Horsham.

NatWest t20 Blast

The NatWest t20 Blast is a Twenty20 cricket league in England and Wales run by the ECB from 2014. The league consists of the 18 first-class county teams divided into two divisions of nine teams each. This setup, which was first announced in November 2013, replaced the Friends Life t20 competition as the main domestic Twenty20 competition in England and Wales.

Finals day

The semi-finals and final of the competition are played consecutively on the same day and at the same ground, at the end of the competition. During finals day, there is a mascot derby, which is a race between mascots representing all 18 counties. Finals day is usually held at Edgbaston.

Competition format

There are 18 clubs competing for the t20 title. These clubs are initially split into 2 divisions (North and South), each containing 9 teams, for the group stage of the competition. During the group stage (from May to July) each club plays 6 of the other teams in the same division twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents. They play the other two teams only once, for a total of 14 games each. Teams receive two points for a win and one point for a tie or if the match is abandoned. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then net run rate. At the end of the group stage, the top four teams from each group enter the knockout stage.

Mustafizur Rahman

Mustafizur Rahman (born 6 September 1995) is a Bangladeshi international cricketer. He is specialized as a left-arm medium fast bowler. As of February 2016, he is on hiatus due to injury. He has taken the most wickets (13) in a debut ODI series. He is the first player to win the ‘Man of the Match’ award on both Test as well as One Day International debuts.

Rahman broke into international cricket against Pakistan in the Twenty20 format on April 2015. Later that year, he played his first One Day International and Test matches against India and South Africa, respectively, where he was highly regarded for setting up the records.

Before his international career, Rahman played in the 2014 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He also represented Dhaka Dynamites in the 2015 Bangladesh Premier League.

Early life

Mustafizur Rahman grew up in the small town of Shatkhira in Khulna, Bangladesh. He is the youngest of Abul Qasem Gazi and Mahmuda Khatun's six children. Rahman's father is an enthusiastic fan of cricket. His interest in cricket rose when he started practising the game 40 kilometers away from home every morning, with his brother Mokhlesur Rahman. This affected his education as he occasionally skipped study to play cricket.