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Sussex County Cricket Club
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Sussex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. Their kit colours are dark blue and the shirt sponsor is RDF.
The club plays most of its home games at the County Cricket Ground, Hove. The club also plays some games around the county at Arundel, Eastbourne and Horsham.
Sussex won its first-ever official County Championship title in 2003 after a wait of more than 100 years, and subsequently became the dominant team of the decade, repeating the success in 2006 and 2007.
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Encyclopedia
Sussex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. Their kit colours are dark blue and the shirt sponsor is RDF.
The club plays most of its home games at the County Cricket Ground, Hove. The club also plays some games around the county at Arundel, Eastbourne and Horsham.
Sussex won its first-ever official County Championship title in 2003 after a wait of more than 100 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 CCC to clinch the C&G Trophy, before winning the County Championship following an emphatic victory against Nottinghamshire CCC, in which Sussex outplayed their hosts by an innings and 245 runs. 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 , Sussex defeated Worcestershire CCC, with rivals Lancashire CCC narrowly failing to beat Surrey CCC with the match going on to past 5 o'clock, - prompting relieved celebrations at the County Cricket Ground, Hove
Honours
- Champion County' (3) – 1845, 1848, 1855; shared (1) – 1852
- County Championship (3) – 2003, 2006, 2007
- Division Two (1) – 2001
- FP Trophy' (5) – 1963, 1964, 1978, 1986, 2006
- National League' (2) – 1982, 2008
- Division Two (3) – 1999, 2005
- Twenty20 Cup (0) –
- Benson and Hedges Cup (0) –
Second XI honours
- Second XI Championship (3) – 1978, 1990, 2007; shared (0) –
- Second XI Trophy (1) – 2005
- Minor Counties Championship (0) – ; shared (0) –
Earliest cricket
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: this was probably an inter-county match and it has been classified as the earliest known first-class fixture .
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
Origin of club
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.
Sussex Crest
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.
Sussex Grounds
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, Horsham, Eastbourne playing host to First XI fixtures.
2009 squad
The Sussex squad for the 2009 season currently consists of (this section could change as players are released or signed):
Players with international caps are listed in bold.
Notable Sussex Cricketers
England
Australia
West Indies
Zimbabwe
Pakistan
India
Sussex Women
Sussex Women have produced many England capped players. These include:
Sussex Women won the County Championship in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2008.
Records
Most first-class runs for Sussex
Qualification - 20000 runs
Most first-class wickets for Sussex
Qualification - 1000 wickets
Team
- Highest Total For – 705-8 declared v Surrey at Hastings (1902)
- Highest Total Against – 726 by Nottinghamshire at Nottingham (1895)
- Lowest Total For – 19 v Surrey at Godalming (1830)
- Lowest Total Against – 18 by Kent at Gravesend (1867)
Batting
- Highest Score – 335* M Goodwin v Leicestershire at Hove (2003)
- Most Runs in Season – 2850 JG Langridge (1949)
- Most Runs in Career – 34152 JG Langridge (1928-1955)
Highest partnership for each wicket
- 1st – 490 EH Bowley and JG Langridge v Middlesex at Hove (1933)
- 2nd – 385 EH Bowley and MW Tate v Northamptonshire at Hove (1921)
- 3rd – 385* MH Yardy and MW Goodwin v Warwickshire at Hove (2006)
- 4th – 326 J Langridge and G Cox v Yorkshire at Leeds (1949)
- 5th – 297 JH Parks and HW Parks v Hampshire at Portsmouth (1937)
- 6th – 255 KS Duleepsinhji and MW Tate v Northamptonshire at Hove (1930)
- 7th – 344 KS Ranjitsinhji and W Newham v Essex at Leyton (1902)
- 8th – 291 RSC Martin–Jenkins and MJG Davis v Somerset at Taunton (2002)
- 9th – 178 HW Parks and AF Wensley v Derbyshire at Horsham (1930)
- 10th – 156 GR Cox and HR Butt v Cambridge University at Cambridge (1908)
Bowling
- Best Bowling – 10-48 CHG Bland v Kent at Tonbridge (1899)
- Best Match Bowling – 17-106 GR Cox v Warwickshire at Horsham (1926)
- Wickets in Season – 198 MW Tate (1925)
- Wickets in Career – 2211 MW Tate (1912-1937)
Sussex Fact and Feats
- In 1938, three sets of brothers represented Sussex in the County Championship: James and John Langridge, Charlie and John Oakes, and Harry and Jim (sr) Parks.
- E. B. Dwyer (J.E.B.B.P.Q.C. Dwyer for short) played 61 times for Sussex between 1904 and 1909. Born in Sydney, Australia in 1876 he died in Crewe in 1912. He took 9-35 v Derbyshire at Hove in 1906. He was the great-grandson of Michael Dwyer, a convict who had been transported to Australia after the Irish insurrection of 1798.
- J.H. Parks scored 3,000 runs for Sussex in 1937 and took 100 wickets with inswingers and off cutters. He was capped just once for England that summer.
- Hugh Bartlett hit a hundred in only 57 minutes against Bradman's 1938 Australians.
- The club was left a sum of more more than £10 million by former President Spen Cama.
External sources
Further reading
- Timothy J McCann, Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century, Sussex Record Society, 2004
- Playfair Cricket Annual : various issues
- Wisden Cricketers Almanack (annual): various issues
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