Oxfordshire Cricket are delighted to announce that sixteen year old left hand batter and left arm finger spin bowler, Julian Laird has been awarded a place on Sussex Cricket Club’s Academy for 2023/2024.
The news marks an exciting time in the partnership between Oxfordshire and Sussex Cricket, with Zach Lion-Cachet recently signing a rookie contract, joining Harrison Ward and James Coles as professional players at Sussex that have emerged from Oxfordshire. Julian will join fellow Oxfordshire player, Dylan Driscoll on the Sussex Academy who himself was first awarded a place back in 2021.
The pathway journey for Julian with Oxfordshire started at the age of eight within the Under 10s age group, In 2017 he made 80 in a match against Gloucestershire that he also captained, and took an impressive 6 for 2 against Berkshire. A year later, in a match against Worcestershire he made 74 and his appetite for runs against the same opponent would continue in 2019 as he made 83. During this period Julian was involved in the successful Oxfordshire age group squads that won the King’s College, Taunton Festival (2018) and Shrewsbury Festival (2019) at the Under 11 and 12 age groups respectively.
In recent years Julian further evidenced his potential by making an unbeaten 113 in a two day match for the Emerging Players Programme against Sussex at Blackstone. This performance would springboard him into the Sussex Age Group teams via the dual registration process between the two partnered counties. Julian would extend his impactful run scoring a couple of weeks later, making 116 not out against Kent whilst representing Sussex Under 15s. Last season (2023) Julian played the majority of his county age group cricket with Sussex Under 18s, alongside fixtures for Oxfordshire Under 16s (his rightful age group) and Men’s Development XI. Julian had a successful summer representing Sussex, anassing 289 runs including three half centuries at the top of the batting order against Hampshire, Middlesex and Essex. His performances would be final confirmation of his place at the Sussex Cricket Academy for 2023/2024.
On the news of joining the Sussex Cricket Academy, Julian Laird spoke to Nick Pinhol:
Keith Greenfield – Director of Pathways and Cricket Partnerships at Sussex Cricket said:
“Since the first time we saw Julian bat, you could see his potential, and he has everything you need to go along way in the game. He plays in a stylish way and we look forward to continuing our work with him on our Academy program, both up at Magdalen College within the Oxfordshire sessions and here at Hove”
Matthew Barnes – Performance Director at Oxfordshire Cricket said:
“We are really pleased that Julian will be making the transition from our Emerging Players Programme on to the Academy with our first class partners, Sussex Cricket. I am certain that both Julian and his family will be proud of his Academy selection and he now has a wonderful opportunity to accelerate his potential within the game.
Julian has been within our talent development system since an early age and on behalf of everyone at Oxfordshire Cricket, I take the opportunity to wish him the best of luck with the next step in his development journey.”