Chris Jordan and Phil Salt are to leave Sussex at the end of this season, according to a statement on the club website. The county affirmed that they had offered the players new contracts, but that both had decided to commit to new challenges. Jordan will sign for Surrey, while Salt will go to Lancashire.
Jordan is going back to the club where it all began in 2007 before being released in 2012, and expressed his excitement at returning to his cricketing home. He will captain Surrey’s out-of-sorts T20 side and look to galvanise the county in that particular format. Salt was a fan of Lancashire in his youth and claimed he could not afford to turn down such an excellent opportunity.
Both are two of Sussex’s most central players, with Jordan a vital part of England’s T20 set-up for quite some time now and Salt demonstrating his ability in the cobbled-together ODI series between the Three Lions and Pakistan earlier this summer. Many have claimed the Hundred’s financial favouring of the eight counties whose grounds played host to the tournament is to blame, but the moves seem more an unwanted fruit of Sussex’s recent struggles.
The county finished bottom of Group Three in the County Championship and seventh in Group One of the Royal London One-Day Cup. There is a prominent sense of underachievement at the club and the disappearance of two of its stars will only add to the concern over their near future. The departure of Alex Davies from Lancs and the opportunity for Jordan to skipper in his favoured format must also be considered as key factors in the signings.
🤝 CJ’s coming home!
After nine seasons away, @CJordan will return to Surrey at the end of the 2021 season. He will also captain our @VitalityBlast team.#CJReturns
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) August 27, 2021
✍️ We’re thrilled to announce the signing of @PhilSalt1 on a three-year contract from 2022
Welcome to Lancashire, Phil! 🤝
— Lancashire Cricket (@lancscricket) August 27, 2021
