Sussex confirm captaincy structure for 2024 season

Head coach Paul Farbrace has announced the new skippers for the County Championship and T20 Blast while saying that conversations with Tom Haines over the One-Day Cup leadership will continue upon his return from India

Sussex have announced John Simpson and Tymal Mills will captain the club in the County Championship and T20 Blast respectively - but that either role could yet be changed during the summer.

Wicketkeeper-batter Simpson, 35, who arrives from Middlesex will take charge of the first seven Division Two matches before a decision is taken over the remainder of the campaign.

Mills takes over leadership of the T20 side from Ravi Bopara, who left last year after not being offered a new contract.

However, the left-arm seamer could yet be involved in England's Men's T20 World Cup title defence in June which overlaps with a significant portion of the Blast group stage.

Chesteshwar Pujara and Tom Alsop captained Sussex in the Championship during 2023 but the reigns have been handed over to Simpson after moving to Hove following a 16-year association with Middlesex.

Simpson moves to Hove after a 16-year association with Middlesex (James Chance/Getty Images)

He will take charge of the first block of fixtures across April and May, starting with the opening round visit of Northamptonshire on April 5. A decision over his future, based on his form and comfort with the role, will be taken for the remaining seven matches across June, August and September.

"It is as much his decision as ours," confirmed head coach Paul Farbrace. "He wants to make sure that he is absolutely the right person to be the captain. He also wants to make sure it allows him to be the player he wants to be both as a 'keeper and as a batter.

There is a natural break after seven games of the Championship anyway so that fits really nicely.

While the Sharks will be in safe hands under the stewardship of Mills, who is four appearances short of 200 in T20 cricket, there remains a question mark over his availability.

A non-playing member of the England squad which won the 2022 T20 World Cup (he was a late call-up to replace the injured Reece Topley) he returned to the fold during the West Indies series in December.

^{Mills was part of England's T20I series in the West Indies last month (Ashley Allen/Getty Images)}

"Tymal worked extremely closely with Ravi last year," said Farbrace. "He is very experienced. The only thing we did think about, that people will point to, is the T20 World Cup is on at the same time as the T20 Blast so there is a chance Ty will be selected to play for England. If he is then we reaccess that situation."

There is also uncertainty over the identity of the One-Day Cup captain. Tom Haines, the former Championship skipper, has led the team for the past two campaigns but after reaching the semi-finals in his maiden season just one win in eight followed in 2023.

"We have talked to him about whether he continues that or not and we're going to continue that conversation when he comes back from India, where he is for an ECB batting camp," said Farbrace.

"When he is back from that in two weeks he and I will sit down with the other coaches and have that conversation over whether he continues or whether we put someone else into the 50-over captaincy role."

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