Sussex County Cricket Club | |||
One-day name: | Sussex Sharks | ||
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Coach: | Mark Robinson | ||
Captain: | Michael Yardy | ||
Overseas player(s): | Naved-ul-Hasan | ||
Founded: | 1839 | ||
Home ground: | The PROBIZ County Ground, Hove | ||
Capacity: | 7000 | ||
First-class debut: | MCC | ||
in 1839 | |||
at Lord's | |||
Championship wins: | 3 | ||
National League/Pro40 wins: | 3 | ||
FP Trophy wins: | 5 | ||
Twenty20 Cup wins: | 1 | ||
Official website: | SussexCricket |
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a whole. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The club colours are traditionally blue and white and the shirt sponsor is Farnrise Construction. As England's oldest county club, it is the world's oldest first class cricket club. The club's home ground is the County Cricket Ground, Hove. Sussex also play matches around the county at out grounds Arundel, Eastbourne and Horsham.
Sussex won its first ever official County Championship title in 2003 after a wait of 164 years, and subsequently became the dominant team of the decade, repeating the success in 2006 and 2007. In 2006 Sussex achieved "the double", beating Lancashire to clinch the C&G Trophy, before winning the County Championship following an emphatic victory against Nottinghamshire, in which Sussex outplayed their hosts by an innings and 245 runs.[1] Sussex then won the title for the third time in five years in 2007, when in a nail-biting finale on the last day of the season [2], Sussex defeated Worcestershire, with title rivals Lancashire narrowly failing to beat Surrey with the match going on to past 5 o'clock,[3] - prompting relieved celebrations at the County Cricket Ground, Hove [4]. Sussex enjoyed further limited overs success with consecutive Pro40 wins in 2008 and 2009 as well as beating Somerset at Edgbaston to lift the 2009 Twenty20 Cup. The south coast county ended the decade having won ten trophies in ten years.
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Sussex, along with Kent, is believed to be the birthplace of cricket. It is widely held that cricket was invented by children living on the Weald in Saxon or Norman times.
See : History of cricket to 1696
The first definite mention of cricket in Sussex relates to ecclesiastical court records in 1611 which state that two parishioners of Sidlesham in West Sussex failed to attend church on Easter Sunday because they were playing cricket. They were fined 12d each and made to do penance.
Cricket became established in Sussex during the 17th century and the earliest village matches took place before the English Civil War. It is believed that the earliest county teams were formed in the aftermath of the Restoration in 1660. In 1697, the earliest "great match" recorded was for 50 guineas apiece between two elevens at a venue in Sussex: it was possibly an inter-county match and it has been classified as the earliest known significant match in cricket history.[7]
Matches involving the two great Sussex patrons Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond and Sir William Gage, 7th Baronet were first recorded in 1725. The earliest known use of Sussex in a match title occurred in 1729. From 1741, Richmond patronised the famous Slindon Cricket Club, whose team was representative of the county.
After the death of Richmond in 1751, Sussex cricket declined until the emergence of the Brighton club at its Prince of Wales Ground in 1790. This club sustained cricket in Sussex through the Napoleonic Wars and, as a result, the county team was very strong in the 1820s when it included the great bowlers Jem Broadbridge and William Lillywhite.
For information about Sussex county teams before the formation of Sussex CCC, see : Sussex county cricket teams
Although Sussex had been a major cricket centre since the 17th century, there had apparently been no move towards a permanent county organisation until 17 June 1836 when a meeting in Brighton set up a Sussex Cricket Fund to support county matches. It was from this organisation that Sussex County Cricket Club was formally constituted on 1 March 1839.
Sussex CCC played its initial first-class match versus MCC at Lord's on 10 & 11 June 1839. Sussex CCC is therefore England's oldest county cricket club.
The Sussex crest depicts the mythological bird the Martlet, famous for having no feet. Capped players have six martlets on their sweaters whilst non-capped players have just the club crest on the left breast. When it comes to caps the capped players have a crest with gold trimming whilst non-capped have white trimming.
The Club has used four cricket grounds in Brighton & Hove - matches were played on a ground donated by the then Prince Of Wales and the ground was fittingly called The Prince of Wales Ground (where Park Crescent now lies), Temple Fields (where Montpelier Crescent now lies), Royal Brunswick Ground (where Third and Fourth Avenues are situated) and finally in 1871 the ground in Eaton Road was acquired from the Trustees of the Stanford Estate. Turf from the Royal Brunswick Grounds was transferred and re-laid on the square.
The first County match was played at Eaton Road on 6 June 1872 against Gloucestershire. As well as the County Ground, Hove, the Club's First and Second XI regularly play around the County, the grounds at Arundel and Horsham playing host to First XI fixtures. Sussex have also played first class matches at grounds in Sheffield Park, Chichester, Worthing, Eastbourne and Hastings.
Players with international caps are listed in bold.
No. | Name | Nat | Birth date | Batting Style | Bowling Style | Notes |
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Batsmen | ||||||
3 | Murray Goodwin | 11 December 1972 | Right-handed | Right arm leg break | Kolpak registration Vice-Captain |
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15 | Matt Machan | 15 February 1991 | Right-handed | Left-hand medium pace | ||
23 | Chris Nash | 19 May 1983 | Right-handed | Right arm off break | ||
24 | Ed Joyce | 22 September 1978 | Left-handed | Right arm medium pace | ||
25 | Joe Gatting | 25 November 1987 | Right-handed | Right arm off break | ||
31 | Luke Wells | 29 December 1990 | Left-hand | Right arm off break | ||
78 | Lou Vincent | 11 November 1978 | Right-hand | Right arm medium pace | British passport | |
All-rounders | ||||||
10 | Luke Wright | 7 March 1985 | Right-handed | Right arm medium-fast | ||
20 | Michael Yardy | 27 November 1980 | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | Club captain | |
16 | Rana Naved-ul-Hasan | 28 February 1978 | Right-handed | Right arm fast-medium | Overseas Player | |
Wicket-keepers | ||||||
13 | Matt Prior | 26 February 1982 | Right-handed | — | ||
26 | Ben Brown | 23 November 1988 | Right-handed | — | ||
19 | Andrew Hodd | 12 January 1984 | Right-handed | — | ||
Bowlers | ||||||
21 | Will Adkin | 9 April 1990 | Left-handed | Right arm fast medium | ||
94 | Wayne Parnell | 30 July 1989 | Right-handed | Right arm fast | Overseas player | |
7 | Monty Panesar | 25 April 1982 | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | ||
30 | James Anyon | 5 May 1983 | Left-handed | Right arm fast-medium | ||
11 | Christopher Liddle | 1 February 1984 | Right-handed | Left arm fast-medium | ||
18 | William Beer | 8 October 1988 | Right-handed | Right arm leg break | ||
8 | Naved Arif Gondal | 2 November 1981 | Left-handed | Left arm fast-medium | European passport | |
2 | Amjad Khan | 14 October 1980 | Right-handed | Right arm fast-medium | ||
22 | Ollie Rayner | 1 November 1985 | Right-handed | Right arm off break |
This list includes those Sussex players who have played in Test cricket since 1877 and other players who made outstanding contributions (e.g., scoring most runs or taking most wickets in a season).
Sussex Women have produced many England capped players. These include:
Sussex Women won the County Championship in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2008.
Most first-class runs for Sussex
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Most first-class wickets for Sussex
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