Ritchie Venner will bid for his tenth win in the Seaman Cup at Horsham on Sunday (2pm).
The holder held off fellow Sussex ace Adrian Moore at 21-19 in the fifth game of last year's final.
Moore is unavailable but the rest of the Sussex elite squad will gun for Venner, playing to the new 11-points-best-of- seven-games format.
Peter Bartram and Andy Walker, from Worthing, and new Sussex champion Mayur Majithia (Crawley) are dangers to the England No.21.
Venner played with skill and assurance in his opening matches for Darlington in the British League but his performances in the second half of the season were below standard. Horsham duo Graham Carter and Fawzi Yousif, plus Prakash Varsani (Brighton) make up the chosen eight.
Holder Sally Weston (Horsham) bids for her eighth Nicholls Cup for the top eight Sussex women. Sussex champion Rose Rainton (Bexhill) is second seed but has been below form recently.
Former county champion Teresa Bennett (Eastbourne) is a dark horse.
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