Hi everyone!
Some thoughts from Up in the
Deckchairs
on
Sussex v Warwickshire
The ECB Reporter tells you what you need to know about the match:
“Warwickshire batted through a
rain-affected final day
to draw their Rothesay County Championship match with Sussex at Hove.”
Whilst, as you would expect, I will
briefly summarise what happened in the game,
the Clue to the Blog is a song released way back in 1969 …
Gently dozing in the warm afternoon sun at Hove Actually, my thoughts turned to a Sussex v Warwickshire game which Dad & I were at in 1964 … and the words of Mary Hopkin !
Please enjoy:
Those were the days, my friend
We thought they'd never end
Mary Hopkin
Live in 1969:
Where have the years all gone …
---
Three days in the Hove sun with temperatures on the South Coast in the mid to high 20 degrees.
What did The Kinks sing …
Now I'm sitting here
Sipping at my ice cold beer
Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon
Look out for that Big Fat Moma !!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEO8i2c_QI8
Seeking some respite from the sun, I left my beloved deckchairs up at
the Cromwell Road end for the shade of the upper rows of the Sharks Stand at
the Sea end and in the Pavilion, including watching from the Upper Tier.
Looking across the ground from the Upper Tier
My first ever visit in 66 seasons of watching!
Nobody grows old merely by living a
number of years.
We grow old by deserting our ideas.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
Samuel Ullman
---
As for the game, it is a tale simply told.
The second of four rounds in this year’s County Championship with the Kookaburra ball (rather than the usual Dukes ball), runs were generally easier to make than wickets to take.
For the technically minded:
A Dukes ball is hand stitched with
six rows of threads.
This makes the seam more pronounced
than the Kookaburra and it maintains its shape for longer, favouring bowlers
searching for seam and swing movement.
The Kookaburra is machine stitched and does not have the same handicraft in its manufacturing.
Across all the matches, batters prospered. 4,508 runs scored across the first innings, the most in any round of Championship cricket. 820 of those came from Surrey at The Oval, the 4th highest ever.
At Hove, the game had 1,208 runs, but with only 24
wickets falling.
Sussex never got to bat again!
There were 150s were both Daniel Hughes (a near neighbour of mine) and James Coles (perhaps, a long shot for the England tour Down Under this winter).
The standout bowler was Warwickshire’s Corey Rocchiccioli.
I know … you’re wondering how to pronounce Corey !
Well, you’re in luck … YouTube has the answer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWWo5XgFZ10
I hadn’t heard of Corey before this game.
A quick check with Wikipedia & I can tell you he was born in Perth in Australia. An offspinner he plays for Western Australia and signed a short term contract with Warwickshire in June 2025.
(probably) The only First Class Cricketer with 4 Cs in his surname
Corey has played for Australia A. Perhaps he will make the Australia Test Team when England tour Down Under in 2025/26.
“I don’t know if I’m ready for Test cricket because I’ve never played at that level.
But I have the self-belief that if I’m given the opportunity, I can hold my own.”
Experience with the Kookaburra ball served Corey very
well in this game.
55 overs, 173 runs and 6 wickets
But across the game as a whole batters dominated bowlers.
And well into the final session on Day 4 - with Warwickshire in their 2nd innings 127 runs ahead of Sussex with 6 wickets remaining – the teams shook hands on a draw.
After 9 Rounds of the Championship & with 5 Rounds remaining, the Mighty Sussex are in 3rd place.
At the start of the season, I’d definitely have taken that !!!
---
So what about … Those were the days, my friend
The game was 156th meeting between the two Counties. The Sussex Cricket Museum had all the grounds where the teams have played each other.
156 & Counting
Looking through the list of games, there were several Warwickshire outgrounds which I don’t suppose will ever host First Class games again:
Leamington Spa, Coventry (three grounds), Nuneaton (two grounds) and the Mitchell and Butler’s in Birmingham.
In amongst all the much-loved Sussex outgrounds, I spotted the Manor Sports Ground in Worthing where two games have been against Warwickshire.
Including an incredible game in June 1964.
Sussex Legends at Worthing
With Lord Ted & Young Jim away on England duty, Alan
‘Oaky’ Oakman captained Sussex.
Like me, Oaky was born in Hastings in 1066 Country.
Along with 2 Tests (including Jim Laker’s 19-fer at the Old
Trafford Test in 1956), Oaky is 11th on the Sussex all-time run scorers with
over 20,000 runs and took over 700 wickets.
After retiring he became Coach at Warwickshire, leading them to the Championship in 1972 and then working the club for many years as Assistant Secretary.
But the Sussex Hero was Ian Thomson with a 10-fer in
the 1st innings & a 5-fer in the 2nd.
His match figures were 15 for 64 !
But to no avail … with the Mighty Sussex all out in their 2nd innings for only 23, Warwickshire won by 182 runs.
During the corresponding game this week, I pondered on Twitter whether this was the only time a player with a 15-fer (or better) had been on the losing side.
I am indebted to FH Stephen ( his website https://bythesightscreen.com/ is well-worth a read) for the information that in 1898 at Hove Harry Baldwin of Hampshire had a 15-fer in game where Sussex (including Test players CB Fry, Billy Murdoch, Harry Butt & Fred Tate) won by 134 runs.
If – like me – you haven’t heard of Harry Baldwin … his was an amazing cricket career, including a 10 year gap between his debut game in 1877 and his next game in 1887.
---
As I took a "well-deserved" doze after lunch up in the deckchairs, I remembered another Sussex v Warwickshire game in 1964.
On Saturday 5th September that year the two sides were in the Final of the Gillette Cup at Lord’s.
Dad & I had been there when Sussex won the inaugural Final in 1963 and were back for the second one.
No Data Analysts in cricket 60 seasons ago.
But there didn’t need to be for Ian Thomson reduced Warwickshire to 21 for 3. He ended with 4 for 23 and won Man of the Match.
Needing 128 to win, the Sussex openers Ken Suttle & Les Lenham scored 42 and 47, taking Sussex to 97 for 2.
There was time for not out cameos from Lord Ted & Young Jim with 17 & 21.
Sussex won by 8 wickets, retaining the Cup.
The Class of ‘64
As Dad & I drove across London and on through Sevenoaks and Tonbridge back home to Tunbridge Wells, we were chatting about whether all the time Ted & Young were playing, Sussex would win the Cup forever !!!
We really should have known much better.
For whilst we may have never heard of Mark Faber (an Oxford Blue who played over 50 times for Sussex in the 1970s), we had heard of his grandfather, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan:
On 28th June 1965 Sussex lost for the first time in a Gillette cup match. Middlesex beating them at Lord’s by 90 runs.
The following day Lord Ted was on the way home from racing at Newbury.
Running out of fuel on the Chiswick flyover. Pushing his car
off the road, it began to move down a short,
steepish slope. Getting caught between the car and the doors at the bottom of
the slope.
Ted broke his leg and was out of action for the rest of the season.
In September Ted met with the Sussex Chairman Arthur Gilligan to resign as Captain and to say he would not be playing for Sussex in 1966.
Those were the days, my friend
We thought they'd never end ... ...
It turned out what Dad & I should have known all along:
Everything that has a beginning has
an ending.
Make your peace with that and all will be well.
Gautama Buddha
---
I’m on tour in British Colombia in Western Canada for
most of July.
I’m hoping to visit Cowichan Cricket and Sports Club.
(possibly) The most westerly cricket ground in the world
And then in early August I’m on holiday for a week in Suffolk with the family.
Young JJ & I will be on the hunt for cricket grounds; obviously !
But; fear not ...
There’s still plenty of Season 2025 to watch in the second half of august & into September.
I really hope you will come down to Hove Actually … I’ve Saved a Deckchair for YOU!!!
After all ….
Why read a Lord Ric Cricket
Blog, when you can star in your own.
See you soon!!
Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace
Dozing up in
the Deckchairs
PS
By now you’ll have worked out that I’m going to miss the
One Day Cup game at Arundel on Thursday 7th August.
The Old Rivals: Sussex v Kent
I’ll be e-following the game.
As for the Result …
In June 2026 it will be the 75th Anniversary
of my Favourite Game EVER.
The Old Rivals at The Nevill, Tunbridge Wells.
That Saturday now long, long ago it all came down to
the Final Ball.
Three needed.
May the game at Arundel also be a Last Ball Thrilla.
Same Result, please !!
#ExpectingToWin
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