Sussex have told cricket bosses that they are prepared to stage Indian Premier League matches if the tournament is played in England.

IPL chiefs are set to make a decision on where this year’s event will take place today, with South Africa also in the running.

Organisers were forced to move the five-week, 59 match event, which is due to start on April 10, from India because the government could not guarantee security during elections.

The IPL are keen that games involving the eight franchises and the world’s top players are staged at Test match venues.

But Sussex chairman Jim May has told the ECB: “We’d love to have games at Hove.”

He said: “We would love to be involved. Our ground is in fantastic condition and we could stage a game at Hove tomorrow.

“We have first-class practice facilities both indoors and outdoors, floodlights, great hotels and good connections between here and London.

“I know the IPL organisers have said they want to use Test grounds but surely it is better to hold the games in smaller stadiums which are full.”

IPL organisers are visiting South Africa and England today to discuss the logistics of switching the tournament before making their final decision.

May added: “It is an enormous logisitical exercise but if the will is there I’m sure we can stage it.

“I will be speaking to (ECB chief executive) David Collier to also ensure there is an equitable distribution of profits whoever stages the matches.”

Meanwhile, Sussex missed their chance of qualifying for tomorrow’s Pro Arch Trophy final after a disappointing 47-run defeat to Essex in Abu Dhabi last night.

Sussex were unfortunate to come up against a paceman in the middle of a hot pre-season streak in Essex’s Jamaica-born strike bowler Maurice Chambers.

The 21-year-old returned excellent figures of 5-42 after ripping out the heart of the Sussex middle order and effectively leave their chances of qualifying from the group stages in tatters.

Sharks made a nervy start in responding to the Essex total of 237-7, losing both century-makers from Saturday’s win in Sharjah, Ed Joyce and Chris Nash, early in the pursuit.

Joyce snicked a good leg-cutter from David Masters to the keeper to go for nine then Nash, on 40, suffered his second run out in three innings in the UAE.

Mike Yardy gave Sussex hope with an idiosyncratic 64-ball half century as he put on a 98-run fifth wicket partnership with Ben Brown, whose own 50 came from only 51 deliveries, But Chambers returned to have Yardy superbly caught at extra cover and then have Robin Martin-Jenkins caught behind off a skier after attempting a hurried pull at Chambers’ next ball.

And when Brown flat-batted to backward point to go for 65 the Sussex tail crumbled meekly as Essex wrapped up their win with 26 balls to spare.

It completed a miserable day for the Sharks who bowled too full a length on a docile pitch.

Jason Gallian (70), Matt Walker (53) and ten Doeschate, with 84 from only 73 balls, all cashed in on some inviting half-volleys, so much so that Yardy turned to nine bowlers in abid to stem the flow of runs.

Only Ragheb Aga with 2-27 generated sufficient pace to catch the eye and trouble the experienced Essex middle order.

Sussex coach Mark Robinson, said: “We didn’t particularly bowl as well as we would have liked and also, if I’m honest, we used this game to experiment a little bit.

“We’ve come out here to find out about how people respond to being thrown into different situations. ‘Yards’ was keen to challenge the bowlers to bowl in unusual stages of the game, hence we had two spinners on toward the end and bought Tom Smith on during a power-play.

“We wanted to see who could withstand the pressure and who might become good options for us when the games happen for real.

“We let them get away and get a few too many but that made for a good chase. For a long time I felt we were in the game, with ‘Yards’ and Ben Brown in there we were still in with a fight.

“I felt if we’d batted out our overs we might still have got close but we kept losing wickets at the wrong time.”

Though sad to miss out on playing in the final of this eight-team pre-season event Robinson preferred to look at the bigger picture.

He added: “Of course we don’t like losing, I’m not going to lie about that because we’d much rather be playing in the final than in a play-off game against Surrey, but we are here to learn things about our group of players.

“Sometimes you learn things you don’t want to. You find out certain players can’t do things at certain stages of a game but knowing that can be just as important in this game when it comes to sending a side out.”
Source – theargus.co.uk