Sharkbite - Sussex Sharks v South Africa 2017

MAY 2017 | £2

Sussex SHARKS v South Africa Friday, May 19, 2017 - 2pm

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CONTENTS SUSSEX V SOUTH AFRICA

04 The South Africa connection

From Greig to Garth – Sussex’s links with today’s visitors

09 JEROME TAYLOR Overseas player has some advice for future stars

14 Royal London review

A look back at this season’s 50 over competition

16 The visitors

South Africa squad profiled

21 County,

Country, Club

England and Sussex’s Georgia Elwiss on a massive summer for women’s cricket

24 PAST MEETINGS

The day a bootmaker hobbled South Africa

NUMBERS 26 IN Sussex v South Africa stats

WELCOME Good afternoon and welcome to the 1st Central County Ground for a fantastic occasion as we welcome the touring South African international side to Hove. Also, a special welcome goes to our Match Sponsors Parker Steel who we trust will enjoy a fantastic day with us.

We’d like to extend a warm welcome to the South African players, staff, their families and indeed their supporters and we hope they enjoy their short but important stay with us, as they prepare for the ICC Champions Trophy which begins in less than a fortnight.

We’ve been looking forward to this fixture ever since it was announced and it really is a feather in our cap at Hove to be able to host international sides, particularly for big occasions like floodlit 50-over matches. We’re lucky that in general, the touring sides love to set up base in Brighton and Hove for a few days, enjoy the sea air and focus on their upcoming matches in England.

Sussex of course has many links with South Africa which gives an extra bit of spice to the occasion. Our Head Coach Mark Davis, despite having spent many years with Sussex, hails from Port Elizabeth and of course our two former South African internationals, David Wiese and Stiaan van Zyl, will be eager to impress against a line-up of players who they will know very well.

We’re expecting a sell-out crowd today and with it, hopefully an electric atmosphere. If it’s your first visit to Hove then please do enjoy the facilities that we have on offer, and we hope to see you back later in the season for the NatWest T20 Blast.

All that’s left for me to do is bid you a fantastic day and ask you to get behind the Sharks as we take on the might of South Africa.

ROB ANDREW DESIGN: PLEECE & CO EDITORIAL: BRUCE TALBOT, MBP SPORTS MEDIA

PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES PRINTED BY: L&S PRINT

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SOUTH AFRICA - BY THE SEA PAUL WEAVER SAYS THE SOUTH AFRICANS WHO HAVE MADE THEIR HOME AT HOVE BROUGHT A COMPETITIVE ZEST TO SUSSEX CRICKET

TONY GREIG COULD REFLECT ON A STELLAR START TO HIS SUSSEX CAREER. FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS MONTH HE MADE 156 AGAINST A TEST-CLASS LANCASHIRE ATTACK ON HIS DEBUT

A strip of South African biltong, it seems, has often run through Sussex cricket.

It has brought a sense of competitiveness and professionalism to a county side that was once – more than most – committed to the notion of the gentleman amateur.

Sussex are more readily associated with their exotic

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Asian connections, the names that dazzle like silk saris through its history, from Ranjitsinhji to Duleepsinhji, from the Nawab of Pataudi to Imran Khan, who so very nearly delivered that first County Championship, and then to Mushtaq Ahmed, who did.

South Africa, though, continues to appear at regular intervals in the county’s narrative. Apart from the South Africans who have played for Sussex there is a strong tradition of the county’s home-grown players

SUSSEX V SOUTH AFRICA PROGRAMME 2017

going there to coach and help develop cricket.

In 1888-89 Sir Charles Aubrey Smith, who had been appointed Sussex captain in 1887, led England’s first Test tour of South Africa.

“Round the Corner” Smith, who became one of the most widely known of England captains after becoming an unlikely Hollywood star, had been a schoolmaster, rancher and stockbroker in South Africa.

Chris Adams led Sussex to their first County Championship title in 2003

SOUTH AFRICA CONNECTION

but the honour almost fell to the frail and elegant Alan Melville, from Cape Province.

Sussex had come second under Duleep in 1932, and again in 1933, under Robert Scott, when they won more matches than even before, 18, ten of them by an innings.

Hopes for 1934, though, tested, the most ardent optimist. Ted Bowley had retired, Duleep had long gone and Maurice Tate had entered his 40th year in May. But they led the Championship from the middle of May until the middle of August.

Tommy Cook and John Langridge both passed 2,000

runs and old Jim Parks and Harry Parks each topped 1,000. No-one, though, batted as stylishly as Melville, who had played perhaps his most famous innings the previous year, 114 in two and a half hours for Sussex against the West Indies at Hove.

In the second Test between England and the West Indies at Old Trafford in 1933 there was much controversy when Learie Constantine and Manny Martindale bowled a form of bodyline. At Hove, it was Martindale and Herman Griffith who used these tactics but they were consistently hooked by Melville, who then

drove when the ball was pitched up.

When asked if he ever ducked a short delivery he smiled and said: “I don’t think so. I hit them, or they hit me.”

He played for Sussex between 1932-36, topped their batting averages in 1935 and 1936 and, in 1935, their bowling averages too. He was the first batsman to score four successive Test centuries against England.

Forty years later Sussex would have an even more famous South African captain in Tony Greig. Greig’s first connection with Sussex was when the club’s old all-

AS WELL AS CAPTAINING SUSSEX, GREIG WAS A FEARLESS LEADER OF ENGLAND. HERE HE IS BOWLING AGAINST INDIA IN CALCUTTA IN JANUARY 1977

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KEPLER WESSELS IS REMEMBERED AS A DIFFIDENT FIGURE DURING HIS TIME WITH SUSSEX. HE LATER WENT ON TO PLAY TEST CRICKET FOR AUSTRALIA AND SOUTH AFRICA, THE COUNTRY OF HIS BIRTH

rounder, Jack Oakes, became coach at Queen’s College in Queenstown. A number of Sussex players, including Alan Oakman and Richard Langridge, coached in South Africa.

But in his book, Tony Greig: My Story, the big man pays credit to Mike Buss.

“I approached Mike, who was then our cricket coach at Queen’s, and asked him if there might be an opportunity with Sussex during the next English season. Mike wrote to Sussex, putting my case.

For weeks afterwards nothing happened, and he must have tired of my incessant pestering. Eventually, the reply arrived. Tony Greig, they wrote, has not got a sensational school record, but if he is willing to pay his own fare, we will give him a year’s

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trial at £15 per week. Mike Buss was gambling on me, and that is something I have never forgotten.”

On his County Championship debut for Sussex 50 years ago this month Greig scored 156 against Lancashire, who had three England fast bowlers in Brian Statham, Ken Higgs and Peer Lever; a star was born.

Within a few years another South African, and one of the most single-minded of all batsman, Kepler Wessels, would play for Sussex. And he was followed by Garth le Roux, a fast and aggressive opening bowler who would have had a Test career but for his country’s international isolation.

Older members at Hove still talk about the deeds of Imran Khan, one of the greatest

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all-rounders the game has seen. But in 1981, when John Barclay’s side went so close to winning the title, le Roux topped the bowling averages with 81 Championship wickets at 19.53 (Imran was third with 66 at 22.18).

Between them came another South African, Tony Greig’s kid brother Ian, with 60 wickets at 21.06.

And, moving on to the team that did first win the title, it was current Head Coach Mark Davis, from Port Elizabeth, who proved to be the perfect foil to main spinner Mushtaq Ahmed in the final matches of the 2003 season. He also played one of the key individual roles of that season with the bat, his career-best 168 which turned the vital game against Middlesex. Davis has brought

SOUTH AFRICA CONNECTION in two more South Africans, David Wiese and Stiaan van Zyl, to the current side and both will go into today’s game in good one-day form after their performances in the recent Royal London One-Day Cup qualifying round.

Then there are the ones that got away. Barry Richards so nearly signed for Sussex instead of Hampshire in 1968. And Graeme Pollock, who like Richards would walk into an all-time Springbok team, also played for Sussex seconds.

Then there was Ken McEwan, an outstanding player for Essex and particularly strong against spin. Tony Greig tried to get Sussex to sign him, but they told him they had already got an overseas player in Uday Joshi.

That reminds me of the time Imran Khan told Sussex that he had found a replacement for himself, somebody called Waqar Younis. Don’t worry about that, they reassured him, because they were

signing the Australian Tony Dodemaide. Ah well.

Paul Weaver retired this year as a sports writer on the Guardian. He now reports on Sussex matches for MBP Sports Media.

DAVID WIESE’S EXPLOSIVE LOWER-ORDER HITTING WILL BE WELL KNOWN TO THE SOUTH AFRICANS ON DUTY TODAY

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Jerome Taylor

TAYLOR-MADE Sussex’s newest overseas player has not given up hope of playinG Test cricket again Jerome Taylor has made a big impact for Sussex Sharks on replacing the injured Vernon Philander for the Royal London One-Day Cup campaign, and the 32 year-old’s form has fuelled the possibility of him representing the West Indies once again in the international arena.

retirement from international cricket last June. He had been part of the West Indies squad in the 2015 one-day World Cup, when he was their leading wicket-taker with 17 victims, and the 2016 T20 version. But after a lean time in Australia during West Indies’ three-match series there in the winter of 2015-16, when he took just two wickets, Taylor called time on his Test career after 46 matches, having made

his debut as a 19-year-old against Sri Lanka in 2003.

But watching the current home series against Pakistan appears to have whetted his appetite. “I think I might have jumped the gun retiring from international cricket,” he admitted. “When I sit at home and watch on TV I just want to get back out on the park and play for West Indies again.

He took a stunning hat-trick against Essex at Chelmsford and has been leading the Sharks attack during the South Group stages.

Taylor announced his

JEROME TAYLOR IN ACTION FOR WEST INDIES

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“I spoke to my agent about it. Perhaps I can represent my country again and then come and play county cricket for a bit longer when that finishes. West Indies cricket rose to prominence (in the 1970s) because good players came over here to play county cricket and used that experience to help the West Indies. Most West Indian players don’t have those opportunities now, unless they sign as Kolpak players.

But I’m sure a lot of players in the Caribbean would love to experience it again.”

Another player who hails from the West Indies and has made great strides with Sussex is young Jofra Archer.

He was playing club cricket for Horsham this time last year, worried that persistent back trouble might prevent him from fulfilling his obvious talent. But the 22-year-old is now an established member of the Sussex team in both

four-day and List A formats while another cricketer from the Atlantic, Delray Rawlins, has emerged from Bermuda, an island with little of a reputation for producing top cricketers, to play in Sussex’s opening two Specsavers County Championship games.

Although Taylor had not seen either player live until he pitched up at Hove earlier this month, he is aware of the reputation – and potential – of both players.

“I have heard a lot about Jofra and, from looking at him, I can see why he has got a good reputation. He’s got a nice smooth action but he can bowl quick. Hopefully he will continue to improve.

Archer still has a long way to go, but if he listens and learns he can look forward to better things. It’s been good to share the new ball with him in recent weeks and I hope he can keep improving.”

DELRAY RAWLINS HAS EMERGED FROM BERMUDA TO FORGE A CAREER WITH SUSSEX

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SUSSEX V SOUTH AFRICA PROGRAMME 2017

“As for Delray, Bermuda doesn’t play a lot of international cricket so for someone to come from that small island and get this far is a big plus. If he can keep his head on his shoulders he can go far. It goes to show what you can achieve and anyone who makes their first-class debut as a teenager is a big plus for them.”

Taylor knows all about that.

He was 19 when he made his Test debut against Sri Lanka 14 years ago when his muscular action and ability to consistently bowl close to 90mph and swing the ball drew comparisons with

Jerome Taylor

Jerome celebrates a wicket against Surrey in the Royal London One-Day Cup earlier this month the great Michael Holding.

Injuries have held him back at times since then but he has still taken 130 Test wickets, a respectable achievement as 22 of them were played on often-lifeless Caribbean pitches. Taylor’s dreams of coming out of retirement may end up being just that, but it won’t stop him trying to bring

the glory days back to the West Indies by being a rolemodel to the next generation of young players.

“We need people who want to play for West Indies, we need young players to come through so we can invest in them and have them for years and years to come.

Perhaps then we can have

more of the glory days again.

“Me persuading them is one thing, you have to have that passion – you have to love it.

People can tell you whatever they want but it is how much you want it that makes the difference.”

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RETURN TO EASTBOURNE Sussex returned to Eastbourne for the first time in 17 years on Sunday when the Sharks played Gloucestershire in the Royal London One-Day Cup. A crowd of around 3,500 packed into the Saffrons to see the visitors win by six wickets with eight balls to spare. Everyone at Eastbourne CC deserves credit for putting on a day to remember and they will be hoping that Sussex now find a regular place for the Saffrons on their calendar Photo: James Boardman / Telephoto Images

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up for the cup Laurie Evans cleared the rope nine times in his brilliant century against Kent

Chris Nash on his way to 82 in the win over Surrey, the Sharks third in succession in this season’s Royal London One-Day Cup

After winning one game in the previous two editions of the Royal London One-Day Cup, Sussex Sharks have rediscovered their bite in the 50 over format.

Three wins from their first five games cemented

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Sussex’s place among the top three teams who will qualify from the South Group to contest the knockout stages with three games to go.

Sussex had only won once in the competition since August 2014 and after this season’s tournament began with an abandonment against Middlesex at Lord’s, they lost by nine runs under Duckworth Lewis to Somerset at Hove.

SUSSEX V SOUTH AFRICA PROGRAMME 2017

But two days later a chanceless 96 from Stiaan van Zyl set up a 60-runs win over Glamorgan and Sussex took massive confidence from that victory.

In the Somerset defeat new signing Laurie Evans had hinted at his hitting power when he made 40 off 20 balls but that was just a warm-up. In Sussex’s next match against Kent at

UP FOR THE CUP

After two years of poor results, Sussex Sharks have rediscovered their bite in the Royal London One-Day Cup

David Wiese took 11 wickets in the first five games, including four in the win over Surrey. He also scored important lowerorder runs

Canterbury he blasted 134 – his maiden List A hundred – with nine sixes and eight fours – as Sussex chased down a target of 331 with 16 balls to spare.

Harry Finch contributed 80 to the stand of 207 and made 61 two days later as Sussex beat old rivals Surrey by 95 runs to chalk up their third consecutive win.

Finch’s contribution came

in a score of 300-8 which included a welcome return to form by opener Chris Nash with 82. Surrey were then bowled out for 205 with David Wiese taking 4 for 29.

Laurie Evans’ 134 is the highest score by a Sussex batsman in a List A game against Kent.

The previous record of 127 was made by Richard Montgomerie at Tunbridge Wells in 2006, the last time Sussex won a Lord’s one-day final.

Their stand of 207 is also the highest for any wicket against Kent in one-day matches.

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THE SOUTH AFRICA SQUAD 2017 HASHIM AMLA Well known to English cricket fans, both for his outstanding performances for his country and spells in the county game with Essex and Surrey.

Amla, 34, has been part of the South Africa team since 2004 and as well as playing in 150 ODIs he played his 100th Test earlier this year. With nearly 15,000 runs across both formats as well as more than 1,000 in T20 internationals he remains a class act in the top order with the technique and mental strength to bat for long periods of time.

A stylish batsman and calm and unruffled figure when he led the side, Amla became the first South African to score a triple century in Test cricket, the fastest batsman to 2,000 runs (40 innings), 3,000 (57 innings), 4,000 (81 innings) and 5,000 (101 innings) in ODI cricket.

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QUINTON DE KOCK The 24-year-old from Johannesburg has already been compared to some of the greatest wicketkeeperbatsmen in the world game and has become a worthy successor to Adam Boucher.

He was 21 when he reeled off three successive ODI hundreds – a record at the time - and has gone on to play 79 times in the format, scoring 12 centuries and 12 fifties, including three in the home series against New Zealand during the winter, and averaging 43.64.

De Kock has also established himself in other formats for the Proteas and has now taken more than 200 catches in international cricket.

SUSSEX V SOUTH AFRICA PROGRAMME 2017

FAF DU PLESSIS A decade ago du Plessis, bottom left, was playing for Lancashire and it wasn’t until 2011 when his consistent performances and ability to play long innings was recognised by South Africa with an ODI debut against India.

He has gone on to play 107 ODIs and will surely pass 4,000 runs during the forthcoming Champions Trophy. He averages 43.81 in the format and has passed 50 on 34 occasions, converting to hundreds on eight occasions.

He has played 40 Tests since debuting against Australia in 2012 and is now one of the key players in the Proteas’ top order. The 32-year-old has come to England after an IPL stint with Rising Pune Superstars.

THE SOUTH AFRICA SQUAD

AB DE VILLIERS AB De Villiers (above) gave an early indication of his versatility in his debut season against England in 2004-05 when he opened the batting, was used in the middle-order and also kept wicket.

He took his career to a new level in the 2010-11 season when he made South Africa’s then highest Test score ever (278 not out vs. Pakistan), South Africa’s fastest ever Test century (75 balls vs. India) and together with Morne Morkel broke the South African tenth wicket partnership record (108 vs. Pakistan) that had stood for more than 80 years.

He was appointed captain of both the Test and ODI teams, vice-captain of the Test squad at the start of the 2011-12 season and celebrated by being named in the ICC Test Team of the Year for 2011. He has since been a regular choice in both the ICC Test and ODI teams.

He and Hashim Amla briefly held the ODI third wicket alltime partnership record of 238, established against Pakistan in 2013. He is also the joint

second fastest batsman in the history of the game to score 6,000 ODI runs.

JP DUMINY A veteran of 288 international appearances for South Africa, including 172 ODIs, the stylish left-hander would probably have played even more for his country but for bad luck with injuries, most recently in 2016 when he suffered with a hamstring problem at the T20 World Cup. The 33-year-old from Cape Town made his international debut in 2004 and has scored more than 4,500 ODI runs, including four hundreds.

A stylish left-hander, he is also a very handy off-spinner with more than 100 international wickets and in 2013 he became South Africa’s leading scorer in T20 internationals.

DAVID MILLER If one South Africa batsman will fancy the short straight boundaries at Hove today

it’s likely to be Miller, who famously coined the phrase ‘If it’s in the arc, it’s out the park,’ when he was establishing his reputation as a big hitting left-hander earlier in his career.

The 28-year-old has gilded his reputation as a finisher who is also an excellent fielder in the ring. He has scored four hundreds in 93 ODIs and has a strike rate of 136.30 in 49 T20 internationals for South Africa. Miller comes to England after playing for Kings XI in the Indian Premier League.

FARHAAN BEHARDIEN Another of the bowling all-rounders in the South Africa squad, the under-rated Behardien bowls at waspish pace and makes wristy middle-order runs.

An excellent domestic record was rewarded with an ODI debut in 2011 and he has gone on to play 79 games in the format, top scoring with 70 and taking SUSSEXCRICKET.CO.UK/TICKETS

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14 wickets. He played in South Africa’s last three ODI series against Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. The 33-year-old helped Titans win the domestic T20 title in the winter when he was third-highest run scorer in the competition as well.

CHRIS MORRIS Morris, 30, plays his domestic cricket for Highveld Lions and made his T20I debut in December 2012 against New Zealand and his ODI debut the following season against Pakistan during the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy.

April for Kent, whom he joined for a brief stint prior to the tour of England this summer.

The 27-year-old fast bowler made his international debut in a T20 against Australia in 2009 but injury and inconsistent performances dogged him before he established himself in the ODI side again in June 2016. He has since been a virtual ever present. The left-armer is also a dangerous batsman. He has opened in T20 domestic cricket and has a half-century and 90 wickets to his name now from 61 ODIs.

He has commanded a 1m dollar fee in the IPL and has warmed up for this tour by playing for Delhi Daredevils in this year’s edition.

Morris had ankle surgery early on in 2014 but returned to action and has gone on to play 23 ODIs, taking 29 wickets. He is a very handy lower-order batsman and has scored four List A half-centuries, including 62 against England in Johannesburg in 2016.

WAYNE PARNELL Parnell will be on familiar turf if he plays today. He had a brief stint as Sussex’s overseas player earlier in his career and played here in 18

SUSSEX V SOUTH AFRICA PROGRAMME 2017

ANDILE PHEHLUKWAYO The 21-year-old bowling all-rounder (below left) from Durban only made his ODI debut last September but has gone on to establish himself in the format, helping South Africa win a record 12 consecutive ODIs on their way to becoming world No.1 in the format.

Phehlukwayo is something of a late developer. As a schoolboy he was a highlyrated hockey player but since switching to the white ball he has quickly risen through the ranks. He has taken 15 wickets and scored 125 runs in 15 ODI appearances.

KAGISO RABADA Sussex supporters will remember Rabada (above right) from his brief stint for Kent last year, when be bowled quickly in a T20 game at Canterbury last May but found the turgidly slow pitch the sides played on at Tunbridge Wells in the Championship a few weeks later much less to his liking.

At least it gave the 21-yearold experience of English conditions and he is likely to be among the quicker bowlers on view at the Champions Trophy, capable as he is of

THE SOUTH AFRICA SQUAD

bowling at around 150kmph.

He has taken 57 wickets in 34 ODIs since establishing himself two years ago and is now a key member of the South Africa attack across all formats.

IMRAN TAHIR The veteran leg-spinner, now 38, is vastly experienced in England through his spells with five different counties, and he has played at Hove many times for Hampshire and Middlesex.

He made his ODI debut back in 2011 and since then has played 74 times and taken 127 wickets with an economy rate of 4.63, excellent figures for a wrist spinner in an era of big bats and miniscule boundaries.

DWAINE PRETORIUS The 28-year-old is something of a late developer and only made his international debut last year

after the early part of his career was affected by two major knee injuries.

He made his ODI debut against Ireland last September and has established himself in the side since, figuring in all three of the winter series against Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Pretorius is a very useful batsman as well and has scored four first-class hundreds.

KESHAV MAHARAJ The 27-year-old left-arm spinner from Durban has been among the most consistent spinners in South African domestic cricket in recent years and has won his maiden ODI call up as a result as support for Imran Tahir.

MORNE MORKEL Morkel hasn’t played an ODI since June 2016 because of a back injury but got the nod for this tour after impressing in South Africa’s recent Test series win in New Zealand, when the 32-year-old quick took 11 wickets.

One of the most experienced players in the squad, Morkel has played 221 times for his country across three formats since making his debut in 2006. He has taken 253 Test and 181 ODI wickets and will provide an ideal foil for Rabada.

It comes after he impressed with the Test side in New Zealand earlier this year. He was the series leading wickettaker with 15 which included match figures of 8 for 87 to set up victory in Wellington.

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LIVE

WOMEN’S CriCKET

COUNTRY, COUNTY, CLUB With a World Cup in June followed by the second Kia Super League, the profile of the women’s game has never been higher. Bruce Talbot caught up with Sussex and England’s Georgia Elwiss to talk about the summer ahead WHAT ARE ENGLAND’S CHANCES IN THE WORLD CUP? We will give it our best shot and the dream is to win it and if we don’t we will be disappointed, but we have to be realistic. A lot of members of our squad are new to their roles and will be playing in a World Cup for the first time, including me. There is pressure on us because it’s a home tournament, which is really exciting, but there is probably more pressure on

Australia, because they are the favourites and the team to beat.

They have everything to lose and we’ve got English conditions which we’re used to that should help us. I’m based at Loughborough University and know all about the microclimate at Derby and Leicester! Hopefully we can get some good support behind us because that will help us enormously.

WITH THE WORLD CUP, SUPER LEAGUE AND COUNTY COMMITMENTS AS WELL AS TRAINING, HOW DO YOU SWITCH OFF?

and with Robbo (coach Mark Robinson). Down time is important, getting away from the game and the cricket environment. A lot of the girls live in Loughborough, which is where we train, and we socialise together.

I have known a lot of the girls for so long, either through University or playing with or against them that I can count them as mates. No one sees playing cricket for England as a chore. This is a great time to be part of the set-up.

For a long time, we did it as a hobby but now we’re full-time we realise that our commitment to cricket has to be 100%, but it is nice now and then to get a break from it.

We have talked about that a lot in the (England) group

GEORGIA IN ACTION FOR HER WOMEN’S SUPER LEAGUE TEAM LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING

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A FEW DAYS AFTER THE WORLD CUP FINISHES THE KIA SUPER LEAGUE STARTS. WILL THAT TRANSITION BE EASY? It’s going to be slightly weird because we’re going to be playing against some of our international teammates. The competition was so strong last year and I think this summer it’s going to be even better. Each team has at least three world-class players in it.

Elise Perry is back with us at Loughborough Lightning which is brilliant for the team and for me personally, because I learned so much from her in 2016 in the way she prepares, the way she deals with external distractions like the media and the tactical side of the game.

She is one of the best players in the world but is such a normal girl and the way she integrated into our squad was fantastic. If you’d

walked into our dressing room you would never have guessed she is a global superstar of the women’s game. She wants to keep improving.

To be honest, I’m expecting some of the KSL games to be harder than some of the matches in the World Cup. You want to test yourself at the highest level and we will certainly experience that this summer.

THE PROFILE OF THE SUPER LEAGUE IS GOING TO INCREASE WITH LIVE TV COVERAGE ON SKY AND GAMES BEING STAGED AROUND THE COUNTRY. The atmosphere at the games last year was brilliant, home and away. Because we weren’t based at a county ground we had no idea at Loughborough what sort of fan base we’d get but it was superb. We’ve got a match at Derby this year, which is part of a double header with the men, and the Southern Vipers,

GEORGIA IS HOPING TO ADD TO HER 39 ENGLAND CAPS AT THIS MONTH’S WORLD CUP 22

SUSSEX V SOUTH AFRICA PROGRAMME 2017

who won the tournament last year, are playing a game at Arundel at the end of August.

I’m a bit jealous of that actually, it’s such a fantastic place to play!

WOMEN’S CriCKET

YOU’RE STILL COMMITTED TO PLAYING FOR SUSSEX WHEN YOU CAN AND THIS YEAR THERE’S A NEW COACH AND CAPTAIN. That’s right. Georgia Adams has taken over as captain and she is a quality player, who has been really unlucky with injuries. She missed our first two games with tonsillitis but this is a great opportunity for her.

I think the captaincy will be good for her. The responsibility will make her think a bit more tactically and

she knows that if she keeps churning out the runs on a consistent basis she could get close to the England set-up as well. She has got a good temperament as well.

Jimmy has been brilliant since he came in as coach.

He has got new ideas and he’s come in and livened things up. I think sometimes it’s good to have a new voice in the dressing room.

Sussex were very successful over a number of years but we lost a lot of experienced players at the same time and the other counties have caught up with us. But Jimmy is really

passionate about the game and is desperate to push Sussex cricket forward again and we have some really good young players coming through.

Southern Vipers play Yorkshire Diamonds on Saturday, August 26, in the Kia Women’s Super League.

For tickets go to www.ecb.co.uk/tickets

Georgia and her England team-mates were joined by pupils from Portslade Junior School at the launch of the 2017 KSL on Hove seafront earlier this month

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Can South Africa avoid another shock in Sussex?

Bruce Talbot looks back at past meetings between the sides, which date back to 1894 The last South African sports team to set foot in Sussex ended up suffering a defeat of seismic proportions.

Two years ago, the Springboks rugby team were humbled by Japan at the AMEX in a World Cup game, but history, if nothing else, suggests the country’s cricketers should avoid similar embarrassment today.

South Africa have only lost one

of these fixtures, the first of them back in 1894 when they were humbled by a part-time shoe repairer called Walter Humphreys who took 11 wickets in the match.

The fixture was, of course, not played for 27 years after 1967 because of South Africa’s sporting isolation and it is 14 years since the last meeting, a one-day game back in 2003 when the tourists’ team included Jacques Rudolph who, 14 years later, played at Hove earlier this month for Glamorgan.

Like the country’s rugby team,

South Africa’s cricketers have also played in Sussex in a World Cup tie. When England hosted the tournament in 1999 every county staged at least one fixture and Sussex struck lucky – South Africa v India on a breezy May Saturday at the start of the tournament. The game quickly sold out and the atmosphere was unforgettable. The crowd of around 6,000 who shoehorned themselves into the County Ground, many of whom stood during the entire match, was predominantly made up of Indian

Arundel hosted the South Africans in 1998 when a rain-affected game ended in a draw

24

SUSSEX V SOUTH AFRICA PROGRAMME 2017

sussex gold fans, with hundreds more peering through the gaps between the flats in Palmeria Avenue and touts at the Tate Gates doing brisk business. South Africa chased 254 with 16 balls to spare thanks mainly to Jacques Kallis’s 96 and when they returned four years later the outcome was even more comfortable.

Sussex were preoccupied with a growing challenge for their first County Championship but still fielded a strong side, led by Chris Adams and including Mushtaq Ahmed. Boeta Dippenaar’s first List A hundred helped South Africa to 267 for 7 before they dismissed Sussex for 114 in just 31 overs. Adams top scored with 32 before he was dismissed by his namesake Paul, who had also got him out a couple of times when the Sussex captain played in the 1999 Test series in South Africa for England.

A three-day game at Arundel in June 1998 was badly affected by rain. Sussex’s 277 included 50 from Wasim Khan and 48

by Mark Newell, these days on the first-class umpires list. Gary Kirsten, who has worked with

Chris Nash in Cape Town for the last two winters, also made a half-century.

South Africa’s first game against Sussex since readmission in June 1994 turned into a run-fest. Responding to Sussex’s 358 for 7, they piled up 613 for 8 with Gary’s father Peter Kirsten making 130 and Brian McMillan 132. There were also half-centuries for Hansie Cronje, Kepler Wessels – on his return to the county where he played second team cricket in the 1980s – and Gerry Liebenberg. Sussex were 91 for 6 in their second innings when time ran out.

Five South African wins included a cracking game in 1955. Jim Parks (118) and David Sheppard (104) took Sussex to 352 for 6 declared and the tourists responded with 308 for 7, which included a century by

Roy McLean, a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1961. Sussex were then rolled over for 97, with Eddie Fuller, a medium-pace swing bowler who played seven Tests, taking seven wickets. South Africa then raced to a nine-wicket win, led by Russell Endean’s unbeaten century.

So, can Sussex achieve their first win over South Africa for 123 years? One thing is certain, they won’t do so with a bowler sending down under-arm slows as Humphreys did back in 1894. He took 6 for 34 in the first innings as South Africa were dismissed for 71 in response to Sussex’s 278. Batting again, they made 210 as Humphreys took five more wickets. He went on to take 718 first-class wickets for Sussex in between mending boots and shoes.

THE LAST BATSMAN TO SCORE A HUNDRED IN THIS FIXTURE WAS BOETA DIPPENAAR IN 2003

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In Numbers

Sussex v South Africa facts

3

Wickets in three balls – James Langridge, Charlie Oakes and Stewart Griffiths – for South Africa’s Cuan McCarthy in the 1960 match

15

3

Number of days lost to rain – the entire match – when the teams were due to meet at Hove in August, 1960

1

Sussex fast bowler Michael Strong made his first first-class appearance in the 1998 fixture at Arundel

The number of games between the sides, dating back to 1894

201

Runs scored by Ken Viljoen in the first post-War meeting at Hove in 1947

4 26

First first-class appearance for Sussex left-armer Jason Lewry in the 1994 fixture at Hove

2000

Runs in the season for Ranjitsinhji when he reached 177 in his score of 178 not out in the 1904 fixture

100

9 Wickets in the match in South Africa leg-spinner spinner Quintin McMillan in the 1929 fixture, which South Africa won by

217 runs

Wickets for the season for Sussex’s John Snow when he dismissed ‘Tiger’ Lance in South Africa’s second innings in the August 1965 meeting at Hove

Number of South Africans who made their List A debut in England in the 2003 fixture: Boeta Dippenaar, Jacques Rudolph, Martin van Jaarsveld and Charl Langeveldt

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