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SUSSEX COUNTY CRICKET CLUB | MEMBERS MAGAZINE
Inside
MONTY’S MISSION
I want to win trophies with Sussex
TRIBUTE TO TIGER ROBBO REFLECTS
Head Coach on a transitional season
AUTUMN/WINTER 2011
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Contents
Message from dave brooks
Okay, so that was 2011 and all in all not too bad a year with decent cricket, decent performances in all three competitions and five full houses including a great Sir Elton John concert. But that is all done now and already we are thinking about 2012 We have one fixture already – the West Indies open their tour here in the Caribbean surrounds of The PROBIZ across the May Day Bank Holiday. I wonder if they have been lucky enough to see proper maypole Morris Dancing too many times? It could be an interesting lunchtime especially when the dancers get the crowd to join in . . . And pitches have been dug up too as Head Groundsman Andy Mackay continues his square renovation programme. Two more strips have been dug up and taken away to the great cricket square in the sky and two more “new-borns” have been delivered by the stork as it flies overhead. We have seen the benefit already of Andy and his team’s hard work and we are committed to make Hove a faster, bouncier square within the next five years. Crack on Andy . . . Seats have been put away, benches stacked, the first slabs laid on the Players Piazza (www.playerspiazza.co.uk), players have had holidays (though still not the coaches!) and plans are being laid for the Sussex assault on three fronts again in 2012. Our club’s playing transition continues, our grounds’ transition is almost complete – we are lucky to have much to look forward to over these long cricket-less winter months! Only six months to go until the first pre-season friendly so see you in April (or maybe late March!)
Dave Brooks, Chief Executive
5 JIM MAY: PROGRESS MADE 6 ROBBO REFLECTS 9 TRIO SIGN NEW CONTRACTS 10 TIGER REMEMBERED 13 REVIEW OF THE SEASON 17 JASON LEWRY 19 SEAT FOR LIFE 21 2011 AVERAGES AND TABLES 22 AWARDS LUNCH 25 WHEN CRICKET MET... 27 TONY COTTEY 29 SUSSEX CRICKET WORLD 31 CHRIS NASH Q&A 32 FRANKLYN STEPHENSON 35 PAUL WEAVER 38 GEOFFREY GREENIDGE 42 SCCC CONTACTS
www.pinnacle.uk.com • 08707 707 765 • info@pinnacle.uk.com Sussex County Cricket Club & Pinnacle wish to thank the advertisers who appear in this publication for their support and wish them every business success. The contents of this brochure are believed to be correct at the time of printing, nevertheless, we cannot endorse and readers should not rely solely upon the accuracy of any statements or claims contained herein without prior consultation with the service provider. Editorial: Sussex Sport Contributors: Bruce Talbot, Adam Matthews, Mark Pennell, Paul Weaver Pictures: James Boardman, Getty Images, Sussex Sport, Stephen Lawrence Design: Wall&Pleece
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CHAIRMAn
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Progress made on and off the field
“The refurbishment of the Spen Cama Pavilion has been well received and, with the completion of the South West Stand in September, I believe we have the best non-Test match ground in the country.”
By Jim May, Chairman A
s winter fast approaches we all have some warm memories from last season which showed a continuation of progress for Sussex both on and off the field. Returning to Division One of the LV= County Championship it was quite clear that the standard and intensity of the cricket played showed the gulf between the two divisions. Our LV=CC season showed inconsistency which was hardly surprising given the side is in transition. There were several very pleasing personal achievements notably the continued excellence of Murray Goodwin, Ed Joyce and Monty Panesar in the longer form of the game. Jimmy Anyon earned his county cap after demonstrating a considerably improved performance and several youngsters, including Luke Wells, Joe Gatting and Ben Brown, stepped up to show much promise for the future. We missed the presence of an established all-rounder for balance in the team following Robin Martin-Jenkins’ retirement and Luke Wright’s prolonged absence. Finishing fifth in the County Championship was a very good achievement and it was very pleasing to finish with two wins which made everyone feel upbeat. Our one-day side also did very well and we were one of only three counties to reach the knock-out stages of both the Friends Life t20 and the CB40 competitions. Unfortunately we did not play at our best in our last matches in both competitions. Again, there were many noteworthy individual
contributions including Chris Nash who was named by the PCA as the CB40 Player of the Year. Looking forward to next season, it is unlikely that we will have many changes in our squad which will benefit from the experience gained in 2011. We should also be strengthened by the greater availability of Mike Yardy and Luke Wright, who has had an operation on his troublesome knee. We received good support in the season at Hove, Arundel and Horsham. The redevelopment of the PROBIZ County Ground has resulted in much improved facilities for members and other spectators. The refurbishment of the Spen Cama Pavilion has been well received and, with the completion of the South West Stand in September, I believe we have the best non-Test match ground in the country. We have also invested more in the club’s heritage than previously and Sussex Cricket World (formerly the Museum) is another major enhancement. The exhibition of Sussex/ Indian cricketing links was very good and received much interest and media coverage in India. On a related matter we were saddened by the untimely death of our former captain, the Nawab of Pataudi, in September. Clearly, it is imperative that we manage the business well as we seek to compete with bigger counties. It is therefore very pleasing that the club is forecasting to record a cash profit prior to depreciation in 2010-11. This is a result of plenty of very hard work by
our staff. It should be remembered that we have been boosted by profitable one-off events in 2011 with the home FL t20 quarter-final, the India one-day match and the Sir Elton John concert which will not be in the base budget for 2011-12. When you factor in the reduction of home t20 matches from eight games to five in 2012, members will appreciate the size of the financial challenge the Board and Executive team is facing. Therefore, Dave Brooks and his team will continue to seek ways of generating further revenue for the club. One of our major goals for 2012 is to attract more spectators to watch Sussex and the Sharks. Increasing our membership is a vital part and I am sure that you will agree that our various packages represent great value compared with other forms of entertainment. Any help from our members in getting their friends to sign up is much appreciated. We are introducing a Members Forum this autumn throughout the county to give us an opportunity for two-way communication. In conclusion, I feel that Mark Robinson, Mike Yardy and the squad have done well in 2011 as the side continues to evolve and I think that we should be well placed for next season. Thank you for all your support, on behalf of everyone at Sussex Cricket, and winter well. Best wishes Jim May, Chairman
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Review
Moving forward For only the second time since 1999 Sussex did not win a trophy, but Cricket Manager Mark Robinson believes it was still a successful season
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S a Hull City supporter Cricket Manager Mark Robinson knows all about the vicissitudes of professional sport. A trawl of the internet message boards a few days after a fine win over 2010 winners Nottinghamshire had secured fifth place in the LV= County Championship revealed some discontent about the 2011 campaign. Our members and supporters are used to success. Since 2003 they have been treated to three Championships and four one-day trophies. This summer was only the second since 1999 that the county did not finish the year with some silverware. But does their highest Championship position since our last title in 2007 and reaching the knockout stages of both the Friends Life t20 and Clydesdale Bank 40 (only two other counties did that) really represent failure? “The intensity in all three competitions has risen, especially in the Championship,” said Mark. “And there is almost a football mentality now when it comes to the level of expectation. How else do you compare it when a county (Derbyshire) sacks their coach in the middle of a game? “We know how privileged we are to play professional sport for a living but with that comes pressure and not too many sportsmen can perform at the very highest level when they feel under pressure.” Of course, we would all loves Sussex to have built on our run of good fourday results in May and June to sustain a Championship challenge or shown a bit more in the two one-day ‘knockouts’
Bowled over: Mike Yardy congratul ates Monty Panesar on another wick et. No one sent down more overs than our left-a rm spinner this season
“It was a bit of a culture shock to some people that we didn’t win a trophy this year but expectation levels have been raised over the years,”– Mark Robinson. against Lancashire and Surrey, but given the disruption around the squad for much of the summer it ended up being a good season albeit a transitional one. “I remember sitting down with the coaching staff in February and writing down our strongest Championship XI and thinking we could challenge,” added Robinson. “But a couple of weeks before the first game at Liverpool we lost our captain and our best all-rounder. We had injuries, like everyone else does, but if someone had offered me fifth after we lost our first game I would have taken it.” What stymied Sussex more than anything was their consistent failure to score big in the
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first innings. Only relegated Hampshire and Worcestershire scored fewer batting bonus points than our 34. “We seemed to play better when we knew what our targets were and what was at stake, it explains why we chased difficult targets in three games and won,” added Mark Robinson. Ed Joyce and Murray Goodwin were as consistent as ever and although Chris Nash fell short of 1,000 runs he made up for it with an exceptional one-day season. Luke Wells ran out of steam towards the end but had already shown his potential with three hundreds, including
a match-winning one at Durham. Joe Gatting finished on a high with a maiden Championship ton at Worcester in the penultimate game, Matt Machan looked the part on debut at Trent Bridge with a well-made half-century and there were runs from wicketkeeper Ben Brown, albeit not as consistently as he or his coach would have liked. No one was able to nail the No.8 spot and the absence of Wright was keenly felt but at least Monty Panesar’s performances enabled Sussex to often play just four specialist bowlers and allow them to load up the batting.
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In his first season in Division One, Monty took 69 wickets, bowled more overs than anyone else in the country and conceded a miserly 2.50 runs an over. At times he was a stock bowler, on other occasions an attacking bowler but at all times he bowled with a smile on his face. There won’t be too many more popular winners of the Player of the Year award. He even broke into the t20 team and his fielding improved. “Monty performed the sort of role Mushy used to do so well for us,” observed Robbo. “He loves bowling which helps.” James Anyon was the surprise of the season, transforming himself from stock to strike bowler and taking 55 wickets. Amjad Khan occasionally had to manage carefully a body which had let him down in the past but he finished the season strongly. Wayne Parnell, by his own admission, was disappointing and with South Africa touring England in 2012 the search is on for a new overseas player. The biggest individual disappointments were the defeats to Lancashire and Surrey which cost Sussex a place in the finals of the one-day competitions. “We underperformed,” admitted Robinson, “but both games came at the wrong time. “We lost Luke on the morning of the Lancashire t20 quarter-final and then Murray did his finger in the field and when we played Surrey we were short of confidence. They were flying and they were too strong for us on the day.” Overall then, how would you rate the season? B? C? Surely not any worse than that! I’ll go for a B. I remember Sussex being in a similar state of flux a decade or so ago. They had some high-class performers but not all the pieces in the jigsaw had fallen into place. There is unlikely to be another catalyst like Mushtaq Ahmed but as Lancashire proved his year teams which work hard and carry plenty of self-belief can go a long way. The top six or seven counties – who include Sussex – have been brought closer together by the absence these days of star quality overseas performers like Mushtaq. There are half a dozen counties, including Sussex, who will quietly fancy their chances of knocking Peter Moores & co. off their perch in 2012. In one-day cricket Sussex have been there or thereabouts for a long time now. They are respected by every opponent. Hopefully in 2012 they will be ‘there’ a bit more. The summing up comes from the coach. “It was a bit of a culture shock to some people that we didn’t win a trophy this year but expectation levels have been raised over the years. There are things we need to do better, as every coach will tell you, but I feel a lot of our players moved their games forward this year. We need that to continue and for our established players to keep performing at the same high standard.” By Bruce Talbot tock to strike: James Anyon
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New contracts for Sussex players Luke Wells
Kirk Wernars
Monty Panesar
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few days after the season concluded came the good news that one of our most promising players had committed himself to the club. Luke Wells, who scored three centuries in his first full season with Sussex, has agreed a new contract which will keep him at the County Ground until 2014. The 20-year-old, whose father Alan captained the county during the 1990s, hit a career-best 174 against Yorkshire in May and 824 first-class runs in total. Wells said: “It’s exciting to know that I’ve got another three years at the club I’ve been raised at. “I’m absolutely chuffed to have extended my contract and very grateful to the coaches for backing me. “I am keen to press on and become an integral part of the team in all formats.” Sussex’s professional cricket manager Mark Robinson was delighted with Luke’s contribution this season. He said: “Luke impressed everyone this year, not only with the volume of runs he scored in the first half of the year, but his hunger and work rate and maturity at the crease. “I am sure he will have an outstanding future in the game.” Luke got some further good news at the end of September when he was included in the England Potential England Performance Programme squad for this winter. The 13-strong group will undertake a period of training at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough followed by a three-week training camp in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and a seven-week match play element also in Sri Lanka.
lso signing on long-term at Hove is exciting all-rounder Kirk Wernars. The 20-year-old broke into the first team this summer and featured in County Championship and Twenty20 games. “It’s fantastic to sign a new contract and I’m really excited to be here for another two years,” said Kirk. “This season was a learning curve and it was great to see how the club operates both on and off the field.” Kirk made a half-century on his Championship debut against Worcestershire in August. Mark Robinson said: “Kirk has shown early signs that he has it in him to be a very good all-rounder in future years for the club and we are delighted that he has committed himself for a further two years.” Sadly, Lou Vincent will not have his contract extended and leaves the club after one season.
onty Panesar has agreed a new contract which he also hopes will help him achieve an England Test recall. The 29-year-old left-arm spinner took 69 wickets in his first season of Division One cricket to help the county finish fifth, their best finish since they won the title in 2007. He has now taken 121 first-class wickets since arriving at Hove in 2010 and this deal will keep him at the county until the end of the 2015 season. Panesar hasn’t played Test cricket since his heroics with Jimmy Anderson helped save the first Ashes Test at Cardiff in July 2010 but hopes consistent performances for his county will help him revive his international career. He said: “The club is going through an exciting period and I’m looking forward to helping them challenge for trophies. I aim to repay their faith by continuing my good form in all formats of the game whilst also improving my chances of reclaiming my place in the England side.” Panesar has agreed to play grade cricket in Sydney this winter for Randwick Petersham and heads to Australia having been named Championship Player of the Season at the end-of-season awards last month. After collecting the trophy Panesar, who has worked hard to improve his fielding, revealed an unusual ambition for next season - to field at slip! He said: “When I’m down at third man or fine leg I hear all the banter in the slips and I’m always intrigued as to what they are saying. So the only way to be part of it is to field in the slips!”
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Sussex gold
A Sussex legend Tributes are paid to Tiger Pataudi
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he end of any cricket season is always a sombre occasion but there was sadness than usual at Hove when the death of former captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi – or Tiger to his team-mates and supporters in Sussex – was announced on September 22. Tiger, who was 70, had been in the country only a few weeks earlier to present the Pataudi Trophy, which was instigated in 2007 for the winners of the India v England Test series, to England captain Andrew Strauss. The trophy recognised the contribution of both Tiger and his father, the Nawab of Pataudi, who played for England in the Bodyline tour of 1932-33 and captained India on their first visit to England in 1946. Tiger captained India in 40 of the 46 Tests he played. His Test average of 35 was modest but remarkable given that a car crash at the age of 20 left him without the use of his right eye.
The accident happened in 1961, his fifth season with Sussex, when Tiger was studying at Oxford University, where he got a Blue and just about to lead them in the Varsity match. He was in a car being driven by teammate Robin Walters when it crashed on Hove seafront and a shard of glass pierced his eye. He set himself the challenge of rebuilding his career and within four months was skippering the Indian Board President’s XI against an MCC side led by Sussex team-mate Ted Dexter. He remodelled his stance so his left shoulder pointed to midwicket but wearing contact lenses he found he was seeing two balls a few inches apart. By picking the inner one, he managed to score 35 at which point he removed the contact lens, tilted his cap over his right eye and doubled his score. A month later he made his Test debut in Delhi. In his first four Test innings he registered scores of 13, 64,
32 and 103 as India beat England in a series for the first time. In February 1962, after Nari Contractor was felled by Charlie Griffiths’ bouncer in the West Indies, he became India’s youngest Test captain at 21. Tiger, who was the ninth and last Nawab before royal entitlements were abolished by the Indian Government in 1971, was spotted by former Sussex batsman George Cox, who remains of only four Sussex batsmen to score 50 first-class hundreds and who knew a thing or two about batting. Tiger had gone to Winchester two years after his father, who had brought him up in a 150-room palace with 100 servants, had died in 1952. Cox took Tiger under his wing and persuaded him to qualify for Sussex. At 16 he made his Sussex debut in August 1957 against Somerset in a first-class friendly at the Imperial Ground in Bristol when he batted at
He enjoyed the social side of cricket. I remember during his captaincy being called in to the office to be told that I would have to skipper the side as Tiger was detained in Paris! – Jim Parks No.6 and scored 19. A few days later he made his Championship debut at Worcester where his team-mates included Jim Parks, who was to play against Tiger in 1963-64 when he toured India with England. “I was at the other end when he came in to face Worcestershire’s fast bowler Jack Flavell, which was not the nicest way to start,” said Jim. “Jack bowled him a bouncer, Tiger ducked but left the bat above his head. The ball hit the back of the bat, and went to fine leg for four! “He was a brilliant fielder, and as a batsman a great timer of the ball, he used to just stroke it around. We all thought he would struggle after the car accident but of course he had a wonderful career for Sussex and India.” ‘The Noob’, as he was affectionately
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known, played for Sussex between 195761, came back in 1963 (when he won his cap), 1966 – when he captained the side – and had four games in 1970, finishing his Sussex career against a strong Lancashire side when his scores were 1 and 12. The decision to make him captain was probably influenced by his assured leadership of India and under him Sussex climbed from 16th place to tenth and he scored his only hundred for the county that summer too. For someone of his ability that is a surprising statistic. Indeed his Sussex average in 88 games was a very modest 22.69, but Tiger never treated the game too seriously. “He enjoyed the social side of cricket and of life,” remembered Jim Parks. “I remember during his captaincy in 1966, being called in to the Sussex office before a game to be told that I would have to skipper the side as Tiger was detained in Paris! He was a very friendly character though, and got on well with everybody.” His first-class career, which ended in 1976, included 33 hundreds and 15,425 runs at an average of 33.67. After his retirement he edited a cricket magazine in India and became a TV commentator before serving as a match referee at Tests and one-day internationals during the 1990s. But he never forgot about Sussex and was a regular attender at Hove during his visits to England. Sussex chairman Jim May said: “I saw him at The Oval in August and he was very keen to know about how we were doing and was planning his next visit to Hove. He met the squad when we were in Delhi in 2009 for the Champions League and was an utterly charming man and a great enthusiast on the game. It was a great shock to everyone who knew him when news of his death came through.” There were more than 15,000 mourners at his funeral. He died of lung disease and is survived by his wife Sharmila Tagore, an actress, and two children. By Bruce Talbot Left: The Tiger with Sussex team-mates Robin Marlar and Don Smith in contemplative mood, April 1959
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No trophies but plenty of positives Bruce Talbot on a transitional season for Sussex cricket
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ark Robinson has always been a glass half-full man ever since he took over in the top job at Hove in 2005. In five of the six years as Sussex coach the team won a trophy including two Championships and the Twenty20 Cup. There is no silverware on display at the PROBIZ County Ground at the end of this summer though. Sussex threatened to win all three domestic competitions at some stage during the season but ultimately came up short. Yet 2011 might still be regarded as the year when another period of Sussex dominance, similar to that they embarked upon nearly a decade ago, took root. The positives outweighed the negatives and the average age of the current squad suggests this group is likely to be around for a while to grow and get better. It could also be argued that Sussex had no right to do as well as they did – fifth in the Championship (their highest position since they won it in 2007) – Twenty20 quarter-finalists and CB40 semi-finalists – considering the disruption caused by injuries, international call-ups and illness. Sussex coped remarkably well considering captain Mike Yardy was absent for most of the first half of the summer as he fought his ongoing battle against depression which had first manifested itself during England’s World Cup campaign in India in March.
Sussex used three captains in the Championship before Yardy returned for good in July and confirmed his rehabilitation was going well by becoming the first Sussex batsman since 2001 to score two hundreds in the same game against Yorkshire. It was always likely that England commitments would restrict Matt Prior’s county involvement but Sussex also had to contend with the absence for much of the season of all-rounder Luke Wright. Had he been fit he would have played most of the summer, the England selectors having decided to look to Samit Patel to fill the allrounder role in one-day cricket. Wright eventually had knee surgery but with Robin Martin-Jenkins having retired Sussex found it hard to balance the side. Naved Arif, Ollie Rayner and Kirk Wernars were all tried in the all-rounder role but no one could fill Wright’s boots. Wright is due to play Twenty20 cricket in Australia this winter and his availability on a regular basis in 2012 will make a massive difference. Sussex won one of their three Championships using 17 players. This year 25 were tried in first-class cricket but only six of them played in 14 or more games. There was no better opening pair in the country than Chris Nash and Ed Joyce while Murray Goodwin proved once again that age is no barrier if you keep yourself
fit and motivated. Only Marcus Trescothick scored more than Goodwin’s 1,372 Championship runs. The find of the summer was undoubtedly Luke Wells. He ran out of steam towards the end which was to be expected in his first full season in the team, but the left-hander scored three hundreds before June including a magnificent 174 against Yorkshire and his decision to agree an extended contract at the end of the season was a significant boost, not least for the 21-year-old himself who could well have the same sort of career as his father Alan. Monty Panesar’s ambition at the start of his first season in Division One was to take 50 wickets and he did so with ease, finishing on 69. It wasn’t enough to win him an England Test recall although he remains the successor should anything happen to Graeme Swann. If Wells was the batting discovery the bowler who shone through was James Anyon. A winter working on his action paid off spectacularly as he finished leading wicket-taker among the seam battery with 55, earning himself a new contract and a county cap in the process. At times during early-season, when the Hove wickets offered the bounce and carry which had been missing since the days of Imran Khan and Garth Le Roux,
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Anyon’s peppery pace evoked memories of those two Sussex greats. Sussex can no longer rely it seems on an overseas player to lead them to greatness in the way Mushtaq Ahmed once did. In fact for two Championship games Sussex didn’t play an overseas player as Wayne Parnell struggled for fitness and form. There was the usual wholehearted contribution from Rana Naved for the first half of the campaign but the days when the overseas pro would play in every game are gone, probably for good. Others made small breakthroughs which may become more significant if they are the prelude to more consistent performances next season. In the penultimate game at New Road, Joe Gatting scored his maiden Championship hundred as Sussex beat Worcestershire to guarantee survival with a game to spare and Matt Machan marked his debut in the win over Nottinghamshire in the final match with an impressive half-century. Ben Brown seemed to have established himself as first-choice wicketkeeper and made two first-class hundreds but Lewis Hatchett, who had made such an explosive entry into the team in 2010, didn’t appear at all in the Championship while off-spinner Ollie Rayner had two loan spells at Middlesex and might end up there permanently next season.
t20 - Lightning strike The biggest single disappointment of the summer was probably Sussex’s under-par show in the T20 quarter-final against Lancashire Lightning. Firm favourites to win in front of a third Hove sell-out of the T20 campaign, there was no one to provide the necessary firepower with the bat in the absence of Matt Prior and Luke Wright while a finger injury prevented Murray Goodwin, who had scored a hundred in the final group match against Surrey, from exerting any influence until it was too late. Despite his knee problems, Luke Wright was joint-second run-scorer with Goodwin on 332, three behind Chris Nash. But Lou Vincent, although brilliant in the field, lacked consistency with the bat while Umar Gul struggled to justify his billing as one of the best limited-overs bowlers in world cricket during his brief stint. Chris Liddle had an outstanding campaign with the white ball with 21 wickets at just 17.19 while both Rana Naved and Ollie Rayner both took five wickets in an innings. They were small crumbs of comfort though when Lancashire and not the Sharks were celebrating their Finals Day appearance under the Hove floodlights. Emerging talent: Chris Liddle
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CB40 - Ran out of steam After winning their group with two games to spare Sussex ran out of steam in the 40 overs competition. The fact that Surrey Lions, with two ex-Sussex players as coach and captain, went on to beat perennial bridesmaids Somerset in the final would have been scant consolation. After losing their opening game at Derby, the Sharks embarked on a run of eight successive wins including an incredible game at Horsham where Sussex fell one run short of scoring 400 runs. But with a semi-final spot assured they suddenly lost their way and, as coach Mark Robinson is continually stressing, momentum can be lost as easily as it is gained. They were beaten in their last three Group A games and had no answer to Surrey’s power in a rain-affected semi-final at the Oval. Ultimately disappointing then, but some players will look back on the campaign with fondness. Chris Nash and Ed Joyce both scored more than 500 runs and left-armer Chris Liddle was outstanding with the ball, taking 20 wickets.
ALL’S WELLS Luke Wells scored three hundreds in an outstanding debut season
England - Prior on top of the world England are the best team in world cricket and Sussex are proud to have produced one of its most important crucial components. Few would disagree that Matt Prior is now the best wicketkeeper-batsman in Test cricket too after his performances with bat and gloves in the summer series wins over Sri Lanka and then India evoked memories of Adam Gilchrist in his pomp. Against India, Prior outperformed India’s MS Dhoni in both facets. He scored an unbeaten 103 at Lord’s having taken a century off the Sri Lankans earlier in the summer. He now has an average of 44.71 and will probably play his 50th Test match in the series against Pakistan early in 2012. Prior appears to have played his last one-day game for England and will admit that in both 50 and 20 over formats he rarely did his considerable talents justice. But that has only inspired him, it seems, to improve his Test performances and although players like Craig Kieswetter and Jonathan Bairstow will put him under pressure for his place Prior is likely to play a key role as England seek to consolidate their status as the world’s best Test team over the next few years.
Top of the world: Matt Prior celebrates with Stuart Broad
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Did I do that? Jason Lewry has been retired for two years but can’t believe he had a successful 15-year Sussex career. Paul Weaver, of The Guardian,catches up with him.
ABOVE: A youthful Jason Lewry at the 1996 photocall, his third season on the staff RIGHT: Jason Lewry in action against Durham at Horsham in 2007 when Sussex won their third County Championship
J
ason Lewry stopped playing for Sussex in 2009, which is comfortably within living memory, but for him it feels like a lifetime away. “I don’t get to see Sussex play that often these days – though I went to Arundel last week because it’s close to where I live,” he says. “But when I do go it feels strange, almost surreal. “I can’t believe that I was actually out there, and that I spent 15 years playing for Sussex. How did I find the time to play, with four kids and twin daughters? I see a lot more of them now, I can tell you that. Cricket robs you of so much time.” Lewry, 40, moved into the property business and things are going well despite
the game. Wasim Akram did the damage. He could hit a long ball. “You could say that those two deliveries sum up the whole competition, really. I decided at that moment never to bowl another slower ball to a left-hander! “As a bowler you really have to mix it up in the Twenty20 game, bowl slower balls, bowl from well behind the stumps. You have to develop a feeling for when and how the batsman is coming for you. It becomes an instinct after a while. “I played in every Twenty20 game for Sussex for the first three years. But I didn’t play after that. The coach Peter Moores, and then Mark Robinson, decided I was more value in the four-day game, so they rested me
bowlers in the country and was a key component when Sussex won the County Championship for the first time in 2003. With James Kirtley, he formed one of the most successful new ball partnerships in the county’s history. Lewry’s outstanding performance for Sussex came at Hove in 2001, when he took seven Hampshire wickets in 14 balls, one of the outstanding performances in first-class cricket. He went on an England A tour to South Africa in 1998-99 but was never given the chance to play at the highest level. “When I look at left-arm fast bowlers who did play for England in my time, like Ryan Sidebottom, Mark Ilott, Simon Brown and Mike Smith, I think I did have ability. And I
“I was much happier in the comfort zone of county cricket. That’s where I felt I belonged. And I had a long and very enjoyable career at Hove. It just feels such a long time ago now.” the drop-off in the housing market. “I work with a couple of other guys. They will buy a property and I will project manage the work on it. I’m something of a Jack of all trades, so I know about what work has to be done.” One of his favourite memories is playing in the first Twenty20 match, against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl in June, 2003. “I became the first county bowler to take a wicket in Twenty20 cricket when I bowled James Hamblin. Then, the very next ball, I became the first bowler to be hit for six in that form of
in the Twenty20. “When it started I thought the game was a breath of fresh air. But it doesn’t mean so much now because we play so much of it. “And when it comes to one-day cricket in general I’m a bit of a grumpy old man. It all favours the batsman and people come along to see the ball hit. And when a batsman scores a hundred from 60 balls it always seems to get more attention than a bowler who takes five wickets.” Lewry was one of the most skilful swing
was quick enough too, whatever some people said, because I had a stock delivery which went down at 84mph “But when I talk to people who have played for England, like Matty Prior and Michael Yardy, I realise that I was not mentally tough enough for the job. “I was much happier in the comfort zone of county cricket. That’s where I felt I belonged. And I had a long and very enjoyable career at Hove. It just feels such a long time ago now.”
AUTUMN/WINTER 2011 | 17
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The seat is yours for all cricket, with preferential booking for all-ticket matches for extra seating, subject to availability. At a one off cost of £1000+VAT, providing you have uninterrupted Premier Membership from 2012 onwards, your own exclusive seat in the South Stand can be yours for years to come. There is also an easy five-year payment plan now available, with £250+VAT per annum payable over a fiveyear period.
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stats 2011 LV= COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE Teams Mat Won Lost Tied Draw Lancashire 16 10 4 0 2 Warwickshire 16 9 4 0 3 Durham 16 8 4 0 4 Somerset 16 6 7 0 3 Sussex 16 6 6 0 4 Nottinghamshire 16 5 6 0 5 Worcestershire 16 4 11 0 1 Yorkshire 16 3 6 0 7 Hampshire 16 3 6 0 7 Sussex batting averages Player Mat Inns NO MW Machan 1 1 0 MW Goodwin 16 29 3 EC Joyce 16 29 1 JS Gatting 6 10 1 MH Yardy 10 16 2 MJ Prior 5 8 1 KO Wernars 3 4 1 LJ Wright 4 7 0 CD Nash 15 28 0 Naved Arif 4 7 2 LWP Wells 14 27 2 OP Rayner 4 8 2 AJ Hodd 8 14 3 BC Brown 10 18 2 WD Parnell 5 7 1 Naved-ul-Hasan 9 13 1 WA Adkin 3 5 1 A Khan 13 18 5 JE Anyon 15 22 3 MS Panesar 16 22 8
Runs HS 71 71 1372 274* 1269 140 407 116* 617 130 284 97* 104 53 237 116 928 120 165 100* 824 174 191 62* 270 67 392 108 143 44 186 43* 62 29* 186 65 269 53 120 20
Sussex bowling averages Player Mat Inns Overs Mdns JS Gatting 6 2 5.0 2 Naved Arif 4 5 98.4 12 CD Nash 15 13 92.0 18 MS Panesar 16 27 750.3 223 KO Wernars 3 5 29.5 7 LJ Wright 4 3 49.0 8 A Khan 13 22 381.5 72 JE Anyon 15 26 450.1 50 Naved-ul-Hasan 9 13 279.4 58 WD Parnell 5 10 154.0 20 OP Rayner 4 7 76.1 19 LWP Wells 14 9 44.0 7 WA Adkin 3 5 63.0 17 MH Yardy 10 1 3.0 0 BC Brown 10 - - - MW Goodwin 16 - - - AJ Hodd 8 - - - EC Joyce 16 - - - MW Machan 1 - - - MJ Prior 5 - - -
Ave 71.00 52.76 45.32 45.22 44.07 40.57 34.66 33.85 33.14 33.00 32.96 31.83 24.54 24.50 23.83 15.50 15.50 14.30 14.15 8.57
Runs Wkts 9 1 388 15 291 11 1880 69 109 4 146 5 1259 39 1785 55 921 27 611 15 241 4 170 2 174 1 7 0 - - - - - - - - - - - -
FRIENDS LIFE T20 South Group table Teams Mat Won Lost Tied * Hampshire 16 11 2 0 Sussex 16 9 5 0 Kent 16 9 5 0 Somerset 16 7 4 1 Surrey 16 7 6 0 Essex 16 7 7 0 Glamorgan 16 5 9 0 Gloucestershire 16 4 11 0 Middlesex 16 2 12 1
N/R 3 2 2 4 3 2 2 1 1
Sussex batting averages Player Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave LJ Wright 10 10 1 332 81* 36.88 MW Goodwin 15 14 3 332 100* 30.18 MJ Prior 6 6 0 167 89 27.83 CD Nash 16 16 3 335 64* 25.76 Naved-ul-Hasan 11 8 3 118 34 23.60 AJ Hodd 9 4 2 43 18* 21.50 L Vincent 16 16 3 262 44* 20.15 MH Yardy 9 8 3 97 24 19.40 BC Brown 9 9 0 155 68 17.22 CJ Liddle 16 4 3 14 9 14.00 EC Joyce 2 2 0 22 15 11.00 WD Parnell 7 4 2 20 12* 10.00 KO Wernars 2 1 0 9 9 9.00 OP Rayner 12 8 3 37 15 7.40 JS Gatting 10 9 1 46 20 5.75 LWP Wells 1 1 0 3 3 3.00 Naved Arif 5 2 0 4 2 2.00 Umar Gul 8 2 0 1 1 0.50 MS Panesar 12 1 0 0 0 0.00
Aban 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 0 4 2 1 2 0 0 1 1 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 BBI 1/8 4/41 4/103 5/58 2/13 3/54 4/70 5/136 5/79 3/60 2/38 2/28 1/28 - - - - - - - Pts 23 20 20 19 17 16 12 9 6 SR 155.14 127.20 135.77 109.12 137.20 81.13 107.37 85.84 111.51 66.66 95.65 105.26 90.00 84.09 75.40 50.00 66.66 20.00 0.00
Pts 246 235 232 189 182 173 142 138 127 50 1 4 9 3 3 2 1 0 7 0 0 2 1 2 0 0 0 1 2 0 BBM Ave Econ 1/8 9.00 1.80 7/127 25.86 3.93 5/113 26.45 3.16 7/134 27.24 2.50 2/13 27.25 3.65 3/54 29.20 2.97 6/85 32.28 3.29 8/156 32.45 3.96 10/161 34.1 5/153 40.73 3.96 3/73 60.25 3.16 2/33 85.00 3.86 1/45 174.00 2.76 - - 2.33 - - - - - - - - - - - - Net RR +1.093 +0.061 -0.205 +0.978 +0.131 -0.086 +0.045 -0.473 -1.247 100 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
50 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sussex bowling averages Player Mat Inns Overs Mdns CD Nash 16 8 18.0 0 Naved-ul-Hasan 11 11 36.2 0 OP Rayner 12 12 43.0 1 MS Panesar 12 12 42.0 0 CJ Liddle 16 16 49.5 1 LJ Wright 10 8 17.0 0 MH Yardy 9 9 36.0 0 Naved Arif 5 5 11.0 0 WD Parnell 7 7 23.0 0 Umar Gul 8 8 28.2 1 KO Wernars 2 1 1.0 0
Runs Wkts 112 9 248 16 297 12 297 15 361 21 127 6 271 7 83 1 197 6 251 12 20 0
CLYDESDALE BANK 40 Group A table Teams Mat Won Lost Tied Sussex 12 8 4 Middlesex 12 8 4 Derbyshire 12 6 5 Kent 12 6 6 Netherlands 12 5 5 Yorkshire 12 5 7 Worcestershire 12 2 9
N/R 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
Sussex batting averages Player Mat Inns NO CD Nash 12 11 2 LJ Wright 3 3 1 WD Parnell 5 3 1 EC Joyce 13 13 2 BC Brown 8 6 3 L Vincent 9 9 1 MW Goodwin 13 10 2 JS Gatting 7 7 0 MH Yardy 12 7 1 Naved-ul-Hasan 8 6 3 LWP Wells 4 1 0 Naved Arif 11 6 2 WA Adkin 2 1 0 A Khan 3 1 0 AJ Hodd 5 3 1 MJ Prior 2 2 0 CJ Liddle 11 4 0 MS Panesar 13 4 2 WAT Beer 1 1 1 OP Rayner 1 - -
Runs 649 135 107 583 139 304 270 231 184 72 17 59 10 8 14 11 17 1 27 -
Sussex bowling averages Player Mat Inns Overs Mdns OP Rayner 1 1 6.0 0 LWP Wells 4 2 10.0 0 LJ Wright 3 2 12.0 0 WAT Beer 1 1 8.0 0 MS Panesar 13 13 91.0 2 Naved Arif 11 11 68.1 0 L Vincent 9 1 1.2 0 CJ Liddle 11 11 64.0 4 Naved-ul-Hasan 8 8 55.0 0 CD Nash 12 8 38.1 0 MH Yardy 12 11 68.2 0 WA Adkin 2 2 10.0 0 A Khan 3 3 15.3 0 WD Parnell 5 5 32.0 0 JS Gatting 7 1 2.0 0
HS 124* 71* 47 120 60 102 109* 122 53 25* 17 22 10 8 6* 7 8 1* 27* -
0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Ave 72.11 67.50 53.50 53.00 46.33 38.00 33.75 33.00 30.66 24.00 17.00 14.75 10.00 8.00 7.00 5.50 4.25 0.50 - -
BBI 4/7 5/17 5/18 3/14 4/20 2/24 2/22 1/26 2/26 3/24 -
Pts Net RR 16 16 13 12 12 10 5 SR 108.52 100.00 112.63 102.64 137.62 106.29 115.87 104.52 91.54 94.73 130.76 61.45 33.33 80.00 66.66 78.57 100.00 20.00 100.00 -
FtSe Ave 12.44 15.50 24.75 19.80 17.19 21.16 38.71 83.00 32.83 20.91 -
Econ 6.22 6.82 6.90 7.07 7.24 7.47 7.52 7.54 8.56 8.85 20.00
+1.070 +0.213 -0.079 -0.017 -0.361 -0.147 -0.710 100 2 0 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Runs Wkts BBI Ave 25 0 - - 42 3 3/19 14.00 53 2 2/26 26.50 41 0 - - 474 13 2/28 36.46 357 8 3/54 44.62 7 0 - - 344 20 5/18 17.20 297 13 3/21 22.84 215 6 3/30 35.83 432 18 4/10 24.00 64 1 1/39 64.00 109 0 - - 237 8 3/31 29.62 17 0 - -
50 5 1 0 2 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Econ 4.16 4.20 4.41 5.12 5.20 5.23 5.25 5.37 5.40 5.63 6.32 6.40 7.03 7.40 8.50
THE SEASON IN NUMBERS‌ Played 46 Won 23 Lost 17 Drawn 4 No Result 2 Only Murray Goodwin scored more Championship runs than Ed Joyce, who passed 50 on nine occasions in 2011
AUTUMN/WINTER 2011 | 21
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Awards
End of Season Awards Monty Panesar and Chris Nash picked up the main awards when 150 players, supporters and guests attended Sussex’s end of season Awards Lunch at The PROBIZ County Ground.
This season’s Player of the Year award had been split into two categories and Monty Panesar claimed the four-day award for his 69 wickets, as he finished second leading wicket-taker in the LV=County Championship Division One and bowled more overs (750.3) than any other bowler in the country. Chris Nash picked up the one-day award for his exceptional form in both the Clydesdale Bank 40 and Friends Life t20. He hit 649 CB40 runs in the Sharks’ 12 matches, the highest in the competition. Both players also featured in the PCA’s team of the year last week with Nash picking up their CB40 Player of the Year award from his fellow professionals. Luke Wells was named Young Player of the Year after he amassed 824 first-class runs in his first full season in the 1st XI, including three hundreds and a best of 174, whilst James Anyon was judged to be the Most Improved Player as he took 55 wickets in the Championship. Left-armer Chris Liddle was winner of the ‘Agony to Ecstasy’ award for his impressive return to one-day action this season after two years out of the side with long-term injury problems, and Murray Goodwin’s hardfought century against Surrey Lions in the vital FLt20 group game sealed the Performance of the Year accolade. The departing Lou Vincent was named Fielder of the Year while his stunning catch against Yorkshire in the CB40 at the PROBIZ won him the Champagne Moment prize. Operations and Facilities Manager Ian Waring was awarded the Chairman’s Award for his work on the ground redevelopment at Hove.
22 | 2011AUTUMN/WINTER
Monty Panesar was a popular winner of four-day Player of the Year
ROLL OF HONOUR • 1st XI Four-Day Player of the Year – Monty Panesar • 1st XI One-Day Player of the Year – Chris Nash • Young Player of the Year – Luke Wells • Most Improved Player of the Year – James Anyon • Fielder of the Year – Lou Vincent • Performance of the Year – Murray Goodwin • Champagne Moment of the Year – Lou Vincent • Agony to Ecstasy Award – Chris Liddle • Chairman’s Award – Ian Waring -(Operations and Facilities Manager)
awards
James Anyon was Most Improved Player and collected his prize from Mark Robinson
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Chris Liddle picked up the ‘Agony to Ecstasy’ award after his superb one-day season which followed two injury ravaged-years
Coach Mark Davis collected the Champagne Moment award for Lou Vincent from Farnrise’s Lee Preston
Carl Hopkinson received the Fielder of the Year award on behalf of Lou Vincent from Mark Robinson
Luke Wells’ exceptional first full season was recognised when he picked up the Young Player of the Year accolade from coach Mark Robinson
Chris Nash receives his one-day Player of the Year trophy from skipper Mike Yardy
Ollie Rayner was presented with the match ball after his five-wicket haul in the Friends Life t20 game against Somerset by Lee Preston, Regional Manager of main sponsors Farnrise
AUTUMN/WINTER 2011 | 23
Where Cricket meets...
The World Cup Referee!
Thursday 17th November, 6.30pm- 11.00pm in The Boundary Rooms at Sussex CCC, Hove
Come and join us
The After Dinner Entertainment will be provided by Howard Webb who uniquely refereed the World Cup Final and Champions League Final in the same year of 2010
at our new Boundary Rooms Hospitality Suite and enjoy:
- 3 Course Dinner - After Dinner speaker Howard Webb - MC for the evening will be ex Sussex player Tony Cottey All of this at just £45 per person or £450 inc VAT for a table of ten.
Howard Webb
Tony Cottey
WWW.SUSSEXCRICKET.CO.UK
Contact us now to book Matt Wood - 01273 827102 matt.wood@sussexcricket.co.uk
event
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When Cricket met... Two greats of spin bowling – one English, one Indian – came together at the PROBIZ County Ground recently for a special event on the eve of Sussex’s sell-out clash between the county and world one-day champions India. Sussex’s Business Development Manager Tony Cottey has been holding the ‘When Cricket Meets…’ dinners for a year now and they remain extremely popular. On this occasion cricket met cricket with Sussex and England left-arm spinner Monty Panesar and India’s Ravi Shastri, a former team-mate of Tony’s at Glamorgan, the special guests. Like Monty, Shastri was a left-arm spinner who was a fixture in India’s team during the 1980s when he played in 80 Test matches
and 150 one-day internationals. He is perhaps more remembered for hitting six sixes in an over in a Ranji Trophy game in 1985, only the second player in the history of the game to achieve this. These days Shastri is a respected broadcaster and writer on Indian cricket and both he and the ever-popular Monty offered some interesting and amusing perspective on the art of spin bowling. Tony Cottey’s next ‘When Cricket Meets…’ dinner features 2010 World Cup final referee Howard Webb and takes place in the Boundary Rooms on November 17. See www.sussexcricket. co.uk for more details
SPIN TWINS Ravi Shastri, left, with Tony Cottey and Sussex’s Monty Panesar
AUTUMN/WINTER 2011 | 25
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comment
Cotts’ chat
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Former Sussex batsman Tony Cottey casts an amusing eye on Sussex’s performances W
ell sadly Sussex have just missed out on a Lord’s final after losing against Surrey at the Oval in the CB40 semi, but with first division County Championship cricket secured I thought it would be appropriate to review how we have done this season as a county. Added to the CB40 semi-final place, we reached the quarter-finals of the t20 where we lost our home tie against Lancashire. So all in all we have another successful season when you consider there are only three trophies on offer and the club has once again been more than competitive. I have always felt that Sussex CCC are in the mould of Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest side of the late 70’s and
side this season as has the ever improving Chris Liddle. Added to this is the rich promise of local lads Joe Gatting, Ben Brown, Andy Hodd, and Matt Machin. On the bowling front Amjad Khan will benefit from his first season at the club and we have youngsters Lewis Hatchett, Will Adkin and Will Beer champing at the bit for more first team action next year. We enjoyed the fantastic spectacle of a sell-out crowd watching the world champions India at Hove in August and an 18,500 crowd enjoying the Elton John Concert in June. We now have a Stadium to be proud of with the Probiz Media Stand and the 1,800 seater South West Stand complete. The Boundary Rooms and the
Sussex are in the mould of Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest side - always punching above their weight and plundering trophies at will 80’s - always punching above their weight and plundering trophies at will against far bigger and wealthier clubs. This year there will be no silverware after a trophy-laden eight or nine years. There have been plenty of positives to come from the season though. James Anyon richly deserved his county cap and new contact after a fantastic four-day season with the ball and Luke Wells certainly embraced his first full summer occupying the difficult No3 berth. Ed Joyce and Murray Goodwin again have enjoyed seasons befitting of senior professionals and Chris Nash’s form earned him a call up to the England Lions. It was also fantastic to see our captain Mike Yardy back to his best after a troubled winter. His two centuries against Yorkshire at Scarborough in August must have given him a lot of satisfaction Monty Panesar has taken wickets for fun in the Championship and he also secured his place in the t20
newly refurbished Spen Cama Pavilion offer all types of hospitality options during matches and a variety of nonmatch events can be catered for throughout the year. So all in all it’s been another good year for Sussex CCC. The team has been highly competitive and it’s been a successful and exciting time off the field. My next Where Cricket meets Dinner is on Thursday November 17th where World Cup final referee Howard Webb will be joining me in the Boundary Rooms. Please get in touch if you would like to attend. Thanks for all your support during the summer and I hope you winter well.
Cheers, Cotts
AUTUMN/WINTER 2011 | 27
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SUSSEX CRICKET WORLD
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New home for Sussex treasures
The county has the most extensive collection of memorabilia and cricketing artefacts outside Lord’s and now they have a home to match as Richard Barrow explains
SCMET secretary Jon Filby
S
ussex Cricket World is located in a wonderfully large space which used to be the groundsman’s headquarters beneath the pavilion at The PROBIZ County Ground. Our plan was to embrace a fresh-looking 21st century facility incorporating state of the art technology, coupled with the traditional displays of original material and cricket artefacts. In rough terms, the layout consists of an office to house a selection of key reference material including Wisdens and our collection of Sussex Year Books. A secured archive area houses our more important and rare books and albums, scorecards, photographs, press cuttings, autographs and letters. The main body of the museum consists of the exhibition of the history of Sussex cricket with a people focussed timeline theme, covering cricket played in Sussex from the 18th century to Matt Prior’s heroics in the Ashes 2010. It covers the evolution of country house cricket to the development of the County Club (1839) through to the modern professional era and the second ‘Golden Age’ of Sussex cricket. There is a strong emphasis on participation. Indeed one section of the museum is dedicated to interactive cricket-
related games and skills specifically aimed at kids. Finally, we intend to develop an online virtual tour of the museum linking into both our archive and our interactive displays. There is no question we are being very ambitious in our desire to have the best cricket museum in the country. I knew, with the enthusiasm and dedication of the Trustees, secretary Jon Filby and our archivist Rob Boddie we had a team to deliver the project to fulfilment. It is critical that we develop a regular income to sustain our annual overheads and with this in mind we have launched our new ‘Friends of SCMET’ programme. All we ask is a minimum donation of £10 per year. In return, each year Friends will receive a minimum of four editions of “Of Sussex By The Sea”, two Sussex cricket related lectures in the Museum, an invitation to our annual lunch for the Friends of SCMET, priority opportunity to purchase SCMET limited edition publications and a programme of visits to historic cricket locations throughout Sussex and the South-East. If you would like to become a “Friend of SCMET” please contact our secretary, Jon Filby at jonfilby@blueyonder.co.uk.
AUTUMN/WINTER 2011 | 29
Q&A
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firing line Adam Matthews talks to Chris Nash Q What’s the best thing about playing for Sussex? A I live about thirty seconds from the ground, which is quite nice! It’s close to the sea, there’s a good bunch of lads and it’s a great place to play cricket.
Q Which cricketer do you play like the most?
A I’d like to say Sachin Tendulkar! But probably somebody like Graeme Swann, as I like to play with a smile on my face and have a bit of a laugh.
Q Who was your cricketing hero as a youngster?
A Probably Shane Warne, I used to love watching him as a youngster so he’d definitely be the one. There were a few batsmen too, I enjoyed watching Michael Slater and the way he played and scored quickly. So I used to try and copy him, and I liked his kit!
Q What has been your greatest moment in a Sussex shirt?
A I’ve been lucky enough to have a few really. I’d have to say winning the Twenty20 in 2009 was a real highlight. Obviously the Championship in 2007, as well as the
Pro40 in 2009 which was a huge thing for me, as I played a key role in it and made a big contribution.
Q Apart from The PROBIZ County Ground, Hove, which is your favourite ground to play at and why?
Q Who is the best trainer? A Probably Amjad, he’s done well as he’s now got a six pack and he didn’t have one before he came here!
Q What are your other interests outside cricket?
A Lord’s, even though everybody says it. A I love playing golf, and I love being Just a great place to play, always a great down here and spending time by the sea. atmosphere even if there’s only a few in the I like playing a bit of squash from time to ground. And of course good food! time too. Q Who is the worst dancer in the squad on a night out? A Chris Liddle. I don’t really need to say anymore than that. He’s Northern and terrible! Q Who has the worst dress sense? A Ollie Rayner, he wears the worst clothes in the world. He gets everything on mail order and it never quite works out! Q Who has the worst taste in music?
A Everyone says me, but that’s rubbish! I reckon Amjad Khan tried to take me down as DJ but he was awful. It was all trancie and cool, that’s not what I’m about! Who is the biggest joker in the squad? I’d say Luke Wright, he’s always mucking about and got a smile on his face.
Q What’s the best advice you could give to an aspiring cricketer? A Work hard and enjoy your cricket every time you play it, as it really is a great game. Have no regrets. Q Who has been the biggest influence on your career? A There’s two really, a guy called John Dew who was President at Horsham. He got me into cricket to begin with. And I’d also say Les Lenham here at Sussex, who has worked with me tirelessly since the moment I first started here. Those two guys are quite old school in the way they’ve done things and they’ve given me the best basic advice to get me going.
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SUSSEX GOLD
DREAMS COME TRUE
Franklyn Stephenson won friends the world over for playing combative cricket with a dazzling smile. After three happy years with Sussex he retired in 1997 to become a golf professional in his native Barbados and eventually fulfil the dream of building his own cricket ground. He spoke to Mark Pennell
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SUSSEX GOLD It was Hollywood fantasy at its star spangled flag-waving best as Kevin Costner - driven by the haunted whispers of former baseball legends telling him: “If you build it, they will come” - constructed a ‘diamond’ amongst the fields on his farm. On the face of it, the plotline to the 1989 movie Field of Dreams appears far fetched and a touch dewy-eyed. Yet it is the exact same dream that inspired Franklyn Stephenson, the one-time Gloucestershire, Nottinghamshire and Sussex all-rounder, to build his own cricket pitch barely a six-hit from his home in Holders Hill, Barbados. It was 90 degrees in the shade when Franklyn proudly showed me his cricket ground in the making. Taking up the story that led to the fulfilment of his dream, Franklyn said: “A friend of mine, Tim, came for some golf lessons one day and said he had this little plot of overgrown land that he’d like me to look at. He wanted me to see if there was anything I might do with it because he was told that ‘I could do anything’. “When I first saw the area I was very excited because I could see immediately the potential of it. There was a big bank that needed taking out and bamboo was growing wild, but I could picture a playing field here and a pavilion over in the corner.
He said: “I played all sorts of sports as a kid cricket, soccer, chipping around the sports field with a wedge, and I was tennis champion of my area; mainly because I had a massive serve that could pin guys onto the wire fencing at the back of the court! “Cricket was my early passion though and I’d gone over to England for the first time in 1984 to play league cricket in Oldham and that’s when I first played golf properly. “I returned to Barbados after that summer with two sets of golf clubs, a practice net and with the intention to work had at it, but back then golf was a very expensive game here on the island, on certain courses it still is, so I decided to stick with cricket for a while and then, once cricket was done, get so good at golf that the game actually paid me. “I was already playing off scratch by then and represented Barbados at golf in 1986 and 1987 Caribbean Championships. My performances were good enough to attract a sponsor which, unbeknown to me, contravened the rules. It was an honest mistake, but they took my pro status away for six months because of it.” Riled by the decision, Stephenson contacted the European branch of the Professional Golfers Association, flew
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“I remember a game against Leicestershire when I had to strap up my right shoulder to bowl. David Gower and Peter Willey were batting and as I ran in Willey backed away all of a sudden. The strapping had come loose and was flapping around under my shirt and jumper. I pulled it all off, gave it to the umpire, carried on bowling and took five wickets. “The game was never dead for me. There was always something to get out of a match, which was the beauty of being an all-rounder I guess.” As for his three summers in Hove, where he was twice named cricketer of the year by the Sussex branch of the Cricket Society, Stephenson added: “It was always so dry down on the south coast that it seemed like the flattest pitch in England, as a consequence, we had a problem getting positive results there. “I could never get between Norman Giffford and Alan Wells and get them to try and open up the home games. We beat Surrey at The Oval inside two days when they had seven batters in the top 20 of the averages. The pitch there had some life and a little movement. “Then we went to Northampton and beat them in two days when Allan Lamb
“As a fast bowler you’re always going to be hampered by injury but thinking about it now I think I did fantastically well to stay on the park as long as I did.” I felt it could be nice enough to have kids playing here every night and good enough to attract some touring teams. “I knew it needed a lot of work, but Tim graciously said he’d finance the project if I’d manage it. Our hope was to have the facilities in place for county teams to come over from England, that’s been my focus, my plan, my dream if you like. “Having spent a lot of time in England I know the guys don’t have the best weather for pre-season training and felt that Barbados could offer the ideal alternative. “I had the idea as long ago as 1995 when I spoke to Phil Neale, who was manager at Warwickshire then, who said if the facilities were good enough then counties would come. So this is a dream come true for me and yes, that Kevin Costner film has come into my mind so many times since we started building this place.” Though he could have been a star baseball player in his own right, Stephenson admits his secret love in sport rests with golf. After first picking up a club at the age of seven at home in Barbados, it needed the east coast links courses of Lancashire to finally inspire him to take up the game in earnest.
to their headquarters at the Belfry near Birmingham, formulated a constitution and returned home to found the PGA of Barbados. He added: “From 1988 I had my PGAB playing card and travelled around the world playing cricket and golf. Then, when cricket was over for me, I returned home and took up a job as resident professional at Sandy Lane. “I don’t earn a fortune, but I love my golf and it is a very relaxing way of life.” Banned from Test cricket after taking part in rebel tours to South Africa in the early 1980s, Stephenson reserved his best for the county arena and for Nottinghamshire in particular - he achieved the double for the east Midlands’ side in 1988. However, he also looks back fondly on his three seasons at Hove, and playing through the pain barrier for Sussex. “As a fast bowler you’re always going to be hampered by injury but thinking about it now I think I did fantastically well to stay on the park as long as I did,” said Stephenson, the undisputed king of the slower ball. “I think only Courtney Walsh could match me in that regard, we both found a way of bowling through it and staying out there through thick and thin.
told his team-mates that he reckoned I was trying to kill him. Later on, we beat Leicestershire in two days at Grace Road as well. “I turned to the management at Sussex and said this is what happens if we play on wickets with a bit of life and bounce, but Alan (Wells) didn’t want that. He wanted flat pitches at Hove and I felt that held us back from winning things. “The highlight was beating the West Indies inside two days and half-a-session, but we didn’t realise all that we should as a team. I still enjoyed my time there though, we bought youngsters through like James Kirtley and Danny Law and I got on really well with Peter Moores. “I can’t say I was big mates with David Smith though, there was a clash of two strong minds if ever there was one, and there were times when people had to get between us but, when I reflect on it, I played some of my best cricket there.” In this era of covered pitches, and Twenty20 overkill it seems unlikely that any cricketer will ever emulate Stephenson’s achievement of completing the first-class double. Maybe that’s why his smile remains as broad as ever.
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Paul Weaver
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The Guardian’s Brighton-based sports writer on why this is always a sad time of year for cricket lovers
T
he sight of Brighton and Crawley flying high in their respective divisions in the opening weeks of the new football season brought some comfort but it could not quite disguise the feeling of emptiness that came with the end of the cricket season. This is the saddest time of the year for all cricket lovers, even though the season drags itself into the second half of September these days, and even though there is plenty of the stuff on Sky all winter to bring some relief. But the Wisden - that library brandy and its hipflask equivalent, the Playfair Cricket Annual, a little tatty looking now - have been taken out of the bag and placed alongside the others in the study. It is a sad time because so many players, umpires and other officials will never be seen again. But, this year, the domestic cricket season was also put to bed with a smile. For in a very one-sided international summer, in which England totally outplayed both Sri Lanka and India, with one hand placed over their mouth to suppress a yawn, the county season has been a constant source of joy and unpredictability.
England prospect James Taylor
“The Playfair Cricket Annual has been taken out of the bag and placed alongside all the others in the study.” Sussex, for once, missed out on the prizes. But the destination of the county championship, the oldest and best of the domestic competitions, turned out to be a thrilling, four-cornered affair featuring Warwickshire, eventual champions Lancashire, Durham and Somerset. Somerset and Northants are now the only counties not to have won the championship, unless you decide that that short list should also include Gloucestershire. There will be awful noises from Gloucestershire about that, mostly from the ghost of WG Grace. But the county has never won the title since 1890, the year recognised by Wisden and many others as the start of the modern, organised competition. The summer has also seen the development of a number of exciting young players who – you just know – will play for England. How often have we been able to say that
about a young spinner over the years? Not often. But Scott Borthwick, the leg-spinner from Durham, is someone the selectors really like. He has clearly overtaken Adil Rashid, from relegated Yorkshire. Another player the selectors could be promoting in the near future is Lancashire’s left-arm twirler Simon Kerrigan. His game at Taunton in the last round of fixtures was only his fourth championship match of the season but he has proved himself a match-winner already and I reckon he will overtake Hampshire’s Danny Briggs. When it comes to the batting, James Taylor and Ben Stokes continue to lead the strong field of extras. But Alex Hales from Notts and Jonathan Bairstow of Yorkshire are not far behind. There are plenty of reasons to be cheerful as we head for winter.
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sussex gold
Made In Sussex
In ‘73 Sussex and Barbados opening batsman Geoff Greenidge set an unwanted record by becoming the last white, Caribbean-born player to appear for the West Indies - some 38 years on he is still hoping to see an end to the trend. He spoke to Mark Pennell
Middlesex at Lord’s in 1968 Geoff Greenidge is caught at slip by Peter Parfitt during a game against
G
eoff Greenidge gets to enjoy the best view in the ground whenever cricket is played at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown. As a former Test player he merits a seat right behind the arm in the CLOBI corporate hospitality box on the top tier of the 3Ws Stand. As a Cricket Legend of Barbados inductee, the 63-year-old appears right at home sipping a rum and coke, sharing banter with former team-mates and casting an eye over proceedings. It all seems a million miles away from a blustery spring day in Hove, yet Greenidge recalls his time on the south coast fondly, and with a smile accentuated by his Barbados tan. “My move to play for Sussex all came about through Jim Parks,” he recalled. “England were over in Bridgetown in early 1968 and Jim was keeping wicket.
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“I opened the innings for Barbados against the MCC, as they were then, and he obviously liked what he saw. Jim and a couple of Sussex committee men later approached me and asked if I’d like to play county cricket. I decided I’d love to give it a go, it would be a new experience and, as it turned out, they were a wonderful club to play for, real friendly. “The adjustment the first week or so was incredible, it was much, much colder than I’d imagined but the ball did so much more and I struggled a bit that first season. The travelling and the sheer number of matches took me aback, it was a real learning experience, but the players made me feel really welcome. “Toward the end of that first summer I spent a lot of time in the indoor school with Les Lenham just trying to change my technique to suit the English
conditions and after that, things went pretty good. “The one game for Sussex that really stood out for me was our five-wicket win over the Australians at Hove in 1972. I scored 99 in the first innings but followed it up with 125 not out. It was the third time I’d been out on 99, but I made up for it by helping us to beat the tourists. It was a great day, but an even better evening. “They were good people at Sussex. The likes of Peter Graves, John Snow, Antony and Mike Buss, Roger Prideaux, Tony Greig and Mike Griffiths, they were all great to be around. Peter and I became very close friends. “We came close to winning the Gillette Cup, but it proved a big disappointment to lose to Gloucestershire at Lord’s. I scored 70-odd against Mike Procter steaming in. We had a good start but our middle-order fell away. To this
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day I still day dream about the what-ifs. “Both my children, Steven and Amanda, were born in England and we toyed with the idea of making Sussex our home, but my dad wanted me to play a bigger role in our family business Greenidge Inc. - a wholesale plumbing and electrical distributors in Barbados – I’m still working for the firm to this day, more of a figurehead now though as my son is the No1.” During his time with Sussex Greenidge was called up by the West Indies’ selectors and was rightly proud to have played alongside some of his nation’s greats. It still irks, however, that he was cast aside after five appearances and never given an opportunity to play on their tour to England in 1973. “I’d played all three Tests of the home series against Australia in ‘72/73 and they were going to the UK next up,” added Greenidge, in his soft Bajan drawl. “I hoped I’d just done enough to get in the touring party, but went back to play for Sussex after being left out. Oddly enough, Lawrence Rowe picked up an injury and went home early, and again, I hoped I’d get the call as I was actually over in England by then.
“Their attack was useful, but not outstanding, and it turned out to be quite a good series. In that first game I managed to get into line for my first ball, work it away and get off the mark straight away, which helped settle the nerves a great deal. “It was a good wicket and a highscoring game. I got a half-century and 30-odd not out second time around and I remember Glenn Turner getting a very big score for them [259] as it ended up in a draw.” Greenidge posted 38 and 21 in his second Test appearance, another hard fought draw in Port-of-Spain, and felt he had done enough to win selection for the squad to take on the Australian touring team in February 1973. It was, he recalled, a very different proposition to taking on the Kiwi attack. “This was a totally different ball game altogether,” said Geoff. “We pitched up at Sabina Park and they had Max Walker and Jeff Hammond and this other wiry ‘fella’ called Dennis Lillee, who had this enormous great run-up. Some say it’s an old housewives’ tale, but he truly was pushing off from the sightscreen. It was quite a sight and an amazing experience
“But they (the selectors) called up Ron Headley from Worcestershire instead. I knew then my Test days were probably over. It was very upsetting and in some ways I lost a bit of an edge from my game after Recalling happier memories of his topflight appearances, Greenidge said: “My first Test cap was in Guyana against New Zealand. I’d made some runs in the lead up and had an inkling I might be in with a chance. That still didn’t prepare me for when I actually got the call from the selectors though, it was still a wonderful surprise and a great honour to be called up. “I went out to Guyana and felt very nervous, but Sir Garfield, he was plain old Gary then of course, put me at ease straight away. He was a great captain and has always been a good man and a friend to me. “When we arrived at Bourda for the game the ground was packed and we decided to bat first. I walked out with Roy Fredericks, he was the senior pro of course, and the ovation was remarkable. “Roy was a great batsman. He was light on his feet and played the ball very late, which made him good against the quicks. He was such a nice person and very helpful to the youngsters coming into the side like me.
to face up to. “They got a decent score on the board, 400odd, then, after about three overs I got a duck in my only innings of the game. Oddly enough though, it was Walker who got me out and who gave us most trouble as a team. He was deceptively quick off a much shorter run-up than Lillee, but he also got the ball to swing.” Back on his home island for the second Test of that series at Bridgetown, Greenidge mustered nine and 10 not out, in another creditable draw for the West Indies against an Aussie side that boasted the Chappell brother, Keith Stackpole, Ian Redpath and Rod Marsh in their number. “They were an impressive outfit in terms of their cricket ability, but talk about sledging - they Geoff Greenidge faced a young Dennis Lillee were the masters during his brief Test career in the early 1970s of it!” said Greenidge with a wry smile.
“Most of what they hurled at you was unprintable, but that was all part and parcel of the game and I quickly had to get used to it. I soon learned it was best not to take them on at it too. But to be fair to them, we all shared a beer at the end of the day. ” Geoff and the West Indies returned to Guyana for the third and final rubber of the series, which also proved to be his final appearance for the Test side. He chalked up 22 and 24 as the hosts went down by 10 wickets to lose the series. The hurt of defeat and being cast aside by the selectors lingers to this day. And as for the record he so wants to be rid of, Geoff concludes: “The white guys over here have genuine ability, but many of them leave the Caribbean to study in the States where they take up squash, golf or soccer, they don’t seem to follow up on their cricket careers. “It’s disappointing because it’s a record I’d really like to lose. It’s not a stigma as such, but it would be a big boost for the white lads at schools all over the islands to see a white player back in the West Indies’ team. I hope it happens for them, more than for me.”
“The one game for Sussex that really stood out for me was our five-wicket win over the Australians at Hove in 1972. I scored 99 in the first innings but followed it up with 125 not out.”
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