The curator of the Sussex Cricket Museum, Rob Boddie, seen on the right with Chris Nash, has selected his All Time Championship team from those Sussex players who played in the County Championship from 1890. His only restriction was that he was limited to just two overseas players.
Here is the team in bating order:
1. C.B.Fry
CB Fry is one of the legendary figures of English sport, and some would consider him the greatest English sportsman of all time. He was educated at Repton and Oxford and gained a university Blue in football, cricket and athletics and only missed out on a rugby Blue because of an injury. He was also an excellent scholar, having gained a senior scholarship to Wadham College and gained a First in Classical Moderations
2. M.Goodwin
A phenomenal run scoring machine for Sussex during the glory years when the team won three championships, Murray Goodwin was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 11 December 1972. His family emigrated to Australia when he was thirteen and he was considered good enough to attend the Australian Cricket Academy. He arrived at Hove in 2000 and was asked to open the batting which he did very successfully being able to bat in all conditions and in whatever way was necessary for the team. Read On
3. K.S.Ranjitsinhji
The greatest player of the pre-war era, Ranji came to Sussex after the side had been languishing at the bottom of the newly established Championship and transformed the fortunes of the side with his attacking play and innovative play. Read On
4. T.Dexter
Ted Dexter was one of the most exciting cricketers who emerged in the Post War period. Like Ranji before him, the prospect of Dexter attacking fast bowling, and driving and cutting them with fierce strokes was enough to put thousands on any gate. He was a cricket thinker who helped to revolutionise the way the game was played and in so doing led Sussex to their first ever trophies in 1963 and 1964. Read On
5. T.Greig
Tony Greig was one of the most influential figures in English cricket in the 1970s. He was capable of destroying any attack in the world and changing a game in a few overs. Greig was captain of Sussex, and also of England from 1975 to 1977, playing for England by virtue of his father’s Scottish roots. Read On
6. Jim Parks, junior
James Michael Parks was the most successful member of a family that had connections with Sussex from 1924 until 1972 and together produced more than 70,000 runs for the County. He was born in Haywards Heath (like his father) in 1931, and like his father before him, Young Jim was an excellent schoolboy cricketer, playing for Hove County School before being signed up by Sussex at the age of 17. Once he had made the transformation to being a wicket-keeper, he soon became the first-choice for England. Read On
7. Maurice Tate
Many consider Maurice Tate to have been the county’s greatest ever all-rounder. Born in Brighton in 1895, Maurice first played for Sussex in 1912. The war interrupted his career but he remained with the county after the war soon scoring a double hundred and bowling his off breaks. Read On
8. J.Snow
John Snow is regarded as one of England’s finest fast bowlers of the post war period, being England’s finest bowler between the eras of Truman and Willis. He could be an ‘enfant terrible’ at times and the despair of some captains. On his day he was as hostile as any fast bowler and a match winner. Read On
9. I Thomson
Ian Thomson was a quite remarkable bowler: sturdy, good-humoured, seemingly tireless. He appeared to be able to bowl all day long, and ait was as if he had been bowling from the dawn of time. Of all Sussex’s medium paced bowlers, only Maurice Tate can compare with him. Being able to bowl all day and every day, he was a captain’s delight and he played for Sussex from 1952 until, 1972, twenty years of good service to what became his home club. Read On
10. M. Ahmed
Mushtaq was a chubby leg spinner who could produce a full range of leg-spin variations. He was a match-winner who was considered to be not far behind his contemporary Shane Warne. During his time with Sussex, he was the leading wicket-taker in the County Championship for five successive seasons, helping the county win the competition not just in 2003 but also in 2006 and 2007. Read On
11. J.Lewry
In sultry conditions there was no-one to match Jason Lewry, and with the late swing he got with the new ball, he often took the wickets of the opening batsmen in the first few overs to give Sussex an excellent psychological advantage. He can consider himself unlucky not to have played for England but as he said “If I had been good enough I would have played. I felt I had the ability but I would never have been strong enough to cope with the pressure of stepping up to the next level” Read On
