The choice of a best Sussex team has to be harder than for most counties,
simply because of the antiquity of cricket there. A Sussex “club” was
playing matches in the 1700s and the county club was formed officially in
1839, before any of the others playing first-class cricket. Evaluation of
the likes of William Lillywhite, whose epithet, the nonpareil, gives a fair
indication of what a wonderful bowler he must have been, are hard enough
even with one of his cricketing nephews, James, who captained England in the
first official Test match. So how can these two be measured against the
other Sussex bowlers who have taken all ten wickets in an innings? One of
them Cyril Bland, was one of the county’s earliest imports because he came
from Lincolnshire. He played regularly for only four seasons but he took 553
wickets, so he must have been pretty darned useful. The others are household
names in Sussex cricket circles - John Wisden and Ian Thomson.
Early records are so hard to evaluate but I could easily have picked George
Cox Sr as my prime spinner in the all-time best XI for his record of more
than 1800 wickets at 22 runs each were it not for Mushtaq Ahmed’s
inspirational performances in recent seasons.
In other cases I shall probably be accused of being too ‘historical’ but a
selector has to be decisive, so here goes, in batting order:
1. C.B.Fry: arguably the greatest all-round sportsman who ever lived,
certainly the brainiest. His 30,000 plus first-class runs were made at an
average of more than 50, he scored two Test hundreds for England in days
when they were much harder to earn and he was so good that when England were
being trounced by Australia in 1921 he was asked to play again, at the age
of nearly 50. He was too sensible to accept, but his record is that of a
great, not just wonderfully good, batsman: he was the first to average more
than 50 in a long career; set a new record with six hundreds in succession-
three more than any previous batsman- made a hundred in each innings five
times, etc., etc.
2. D.S.Sheppard: With two men of such outstanding all-round achievement
in life to open the batting this is going to be a team of extraordinary
character and breadth. David Sheppard, the future Bishop of Liverpool, was
captain of England and led Sussex to second place in the Championship in
1953. There was abundant class in his strokeplay but he was also a little
like Fry when it came to application and determination. He was prolific in
his own right: two of his three Test hundreds were against Australia and
between 1951 and 1953, the only years in which he might be said to have
devoted himself to the game, he scored 24 hundreds.
3. E.R.Dexter: Yet another man of many parts and another indisputably
great batsman, who also took 218 wickets for Sussex at 26 runs each with
hostile bowling off a short run. He was such a supreme athlete, like Fry,
that he was good at everything he did. The man who led Sussex to victory in
the first two knockout finals at Lord’s, Ted was not only one of England’s
greatest but also most entertaining batsmen. Those who did not see him
should imagine a better-built version of Michael Vaughan on his
all-conquering tour of Australia. Dexter was at his best when the challenge
was greatest. No one who saw his 70 at Lord’s against Hall and Griffith at
their fiercest will forget it. England were 20 for two when he came in, 102
for three when he was out to Garry Sobers. He scored nine Test hundreds.
4. K.S.Ranjitsinhji: Ranji was the first well-known cricketing genius
from the Indian sub-continent and a true hero of Sussex cricket. Whether
cutting, driving or playing his highly original leg glance, he batted with a
feline grace that charmed everyone. He averaged 63 for the county and in his
first Test for England against Australia in 1896 he made 62 and 154, in both
cases after shaky starts.
5. Javed Miandad: Another for whom the word genius is not an
exaggeration, Javed had scored six Test centuries before the age of 22. Not
often associated with Sussex, he played for them for four seasons, 1976-79,
and against Mars a man with more than 28,00 first-class runs and almost 9000
Test runs at an average of 52 has to be included, however, narrowly, against
all the other batting specialists, even though it means leaving out
Duleepsinhji, the Nawab of Pataudi Jr, Kepler Wessels, the Langridge
brothers and many others
6. J.M.Parks: Superbly entertaining and effective in the early years of
one-day cricket, Jim Parks was a stylish batsman who became also a brilliant
wicketkeeper. He always seemed to be smiling, too. He was picked for England
first as a batsman alone, in 1954, and ten years later as the first choice
‘keeper. A true Sussex stalwart like his father and his uncle, he scored
1000 or more runs in 20 seasons
7. A.W.Greig: Brilliantly gifted as an all-round cricketer, Greigy has
to make the best side for his irrepressible competitiveness. One of only
four truly high-class England all-rounders since the war (with Bailey,
Botham and Flintoff) he rose to the highest occasions with rare flair and
self confidence. In the middle 1970s he would have been in any world team.
In the same series in the West Indies in 1973-74 he scored 430 runs and took
24 wickets at 22 runs each when the next best England bowler took nine
wickets at 61. He scored a barnstorming hundred against Lillee and Thomson
on the quick pitch at the Gabba the following winter and he was one of the
very best slip catchers I have seen.
8. Imran Khan: One of the four great all-rounders who dominated world
cricket in the 1980s Imran Khan was a supremely gifted cricketer: a very
fast bowler of athletic brilliance and a batsman of truly high class who
would have scored many thousands more runs if he had gone in higher or who
had needed to do so. The first Pakistan bowler to take 300 Test wickets, he
also made six Test centuries with style and power and he famously led his
nation to a World Cup victory.
9. M.W.Tate: One of the three greatest bowlers of his type to play for
England – in a line between S.F.Barnes and Alec Bedser, Maurice Tate was a
Sussex legend: strong as an oak with a short run-up but explosive pace off
the pitch. From 1922 to 1925 alone he took 848 first-class wickets,
including 219 at 13.97 in 1923. In 1924/25 in Australia he took 38 wickets
at 23 in the five Tests. Beyond all this he was good enough to open the
batting for Sussex quite often, making 23 first-class hundreds. A useful No
9.
10. J.A.Snow: Another all-rounder in that he could bat very usefully
when the spirit was willing, field superbly and write high-class poems, John
Snow was one of those rare England bowlers: the one who made the difference
in an Ashes-winning series in Australia. A self-confessed rebel at times, he
had no compunction about giving his best to Ray Illingworth and it enabled
him to take 31 wickets in six Tests in 1970/71. His 202 Test wickets cost
only 26 each, his 1174 in first-class cricket a mere 22. He had wiry
strength and a natural rhythm in his fast bowling that combined with a sharp
cricketing brain to make him special.
11. Musthaq Ahmed: Another genius in a side full of them, Mushy has
become a legend in the last phase of his long career, the catalyst for all
Sussex’s outstanding successes of recent seasons and the first two
Championship titles in their history. The leading wicket-taker in the County
Championship for four seasons in succession from 2003 to 2006, he is again
winning matches for the county in 2007, remaining ever the consummate team
man. He took 185 wickets in 52 Tests for Pakistan and could easily have been
playing more, especially as his accuracy and variation of leg spin, googly
and top spinner have improved with greater fitness since joining Sussex. He
did pretty well for Somerset too, but if they try to pick him I know he will
choose Hove ahead of Taunton. It would not be in the spirit of the game to
pick him against Mars for two different sides.
My favourite XI
I have chosen them all from players I know, played with or have seen:
1. David Sheppard
2. Billy Griffith
3. Ted Dexter
4. Ken Suttle
5. Chris Adams
6. Paul Parker
7. Tony Greig
8. John Barclay
9. Robin Marlar
10. John Snow
11. Jason Lewry
I could pick half a dozen sides that would be just as convivial and appealing
and, of course, if I were being really honest, I would include my son Robin
who has ngiven me much pleasure, would have become much better known as a
batsman if he had batted higher than he has in one-day cricket, is far more
consistent as a bowler than many who have been lucky enough to play for
England and, which is more important, is liked and respected by everyone
with and against whom he plays. Keeping up high standards but winning as
well is what it is all about, n’est ce pas?
