Foxes face Sussex on return to top division after 22 years

LEICESTERSHIRE BACK IN BIG TIME AFTER DIVISION TWO TRIUMPH

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LEBRATIONS: Foxes players after winning the Division Two title

(JOHN MALLETT)

LEICESTERSHIRE’S return to the top division will see them face Sussex at home in their opening 2026 Rothesay County Championship match.

The Foxes ended their 22-year exile from the top flight by clinching the Division Two title last season.

Their opening match against Sussex at the rebranded Uptonsteel Grace Road will take place on Friday, April 3.

However, Daryl Mitchell, chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, fears the possible consequences of a jam-packed conclusion to next year’s English domestic season.

The 2026 County Championship, which remains a two-division structure of 14 matches per team after reform plans were rejected by club chairs in September, will be split into three playing blocks.

Each county will play six fixtures in seven weeks in April and May, plus two in June, before the summer finishes with six more games in a five-and-half-week window between August 20 and September 27.