Michael Burgess joins Sussex on loan for T20 Blast

Burgess was a member of the Sussex side which reached Finals Day in 2018 before moving to Warwickshire in 2019

Michael Burgess has joined Sussex on loan from Warwickshire for the entirity of the T20 Blast.

He will, however, return to Edgbaston for Warwickshire's County Championship matches against Nottinghamshire and Essex.

The wicketkeeper-batter, who is out of contract at the end of the season, previously represented Sussex between 2017 and 2019 before making the move to Warwickshire.

While at Sussex, he made 48 appearances across the formats, scoring just shy of 1,500 runs, and was a member of the Sharks side which reached Finals Day in 2018.

Across his T20 career, Burgess has scored 491 runs at a strike rate of 112.93, with a high score of 56.

^{Burgess (right) previously represented Sussex between 2017 and 2019 [Nathan Stirk/Getty Images]}

However, he didn't feature for Birmingham Bears last season, with Alex Davies above him in the pecking order with the gloves.

Whether he plays as a specialist batter at Sussex, or challenges incumbent wicketkeeper Tom Alsop, is uncertain.

Burgess said: "I am very excited to be coming back to Hove, a place I have very fond memories of from my time down there.

"There has been quite a lot of change in the playing squad since I left but there are still some familiar faces like Tom Haines, Tymal Mills and Ollie Robinson. I'm looking forward to meeting up with the group and getting started on Friday.

"This is a good move for me, it means I can keep playing first-team cricket during the T20 season, stay sharp and I'll come back to hopefully keep up our strong start to the red ball campaign."

Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace, who was previously sporting director at Warwickshire, said: "I'm delighted to be able to add a player of Michael's quality to our team for the start of this competition.

"He has been the standout keeper in county cricket over the last few seasons. He will bring fantastic knowledge from a great environment at Edgbaston."

Warwickshire head coach, Mark Robinson, added: "It's a great opportunity for Burgy to play competitive cricket during the Blast season. Sussex are getting a really good player, and Burgy has the chance to play T20 again at a high level."