Living as I did for almost 30 years within a thirty minute drive of Eastbourne I was a regular visitor to The Saffrons ground where Sussex had first played first class cricket in the late nineteenth century. Its unusual name derives from its use at one time for growing saffron, a spice derived from the crocus flower and which apart from its culinary use was also grown for dyeing and medicinal purposes.
A match that I particularly remember from those days, not least because it was played in 'wilting heat' as Wisden described it', saw Yorkshire as visitors in the championship in August 1990. Only one division in those days and three day matches .Sussex were strugglers at that time, they finished bottom of the table for the second time in four years and while Yorkshire rose from 16th to 10th a few months later the committee voted to relax the 'Yorkshire born' policy. Sussex had played Warwickshire in the first championship game of 'the week' and lost by six wickets while Yorkshire had travelled down from Leeds on the Tuesday evening having been rescued from defeat in the roses match by a century from Ashley Metcalfe which left Lancashire needing 148 in 13 overs, a task in which they fell short by only 15 runs with three wickets in hand.
After the rigours of the previous evening's journey Yorkshire must have been pleased that skipper Moxon won the toss and even more so when he made an undefeated 213, the highest individual score for the county since Boycott had made 233 against Essex in 1971. Receiving good assistance from Metcalfe, Sharp and Robinson Moxon declared on 400 for 3 shortly before stumps on the first day. This left time for Sussex to be bowled out twice, nine wickets for Phil Carrick, six for Paul Jarvis. Sussex had needed to bat out the final day to escape defeat but once a good opening partnership between David Smith and Jamie Hall was broken there was little resistance apart from 53 from Martin Speight. I remember being there on the last afternoon and thinking how pleased Yorkshire would be to get an early start on the notoriously poor East Sussex roads as they were due to play Essex at Middlesbrough the following day.
The defeat rounded off a poor week for Sussex for they had also lost their Sunday league match with Warwickshire by just two runs. Their batting averages that season were headed by Neil Lenham and Paul Parker, neither of whom played against Yorkshire. They were captained by Colin Wells, brother Alan top scored in the first innings. Peter Moores was wicketkeeper. Richard Blakey was behind the timbers for Yorkshire and he took nine catches in the match.
Things improved for Sussex in 1991 for under the captaincy of Parker in his last season before leaving for Durham they finished 11th. For Yorkshire however the reverse gear was selected and they slipped from 10th to 14th. A highlight of that season for me was being present when they won a nail biter at Castle Park Colchester against Essex. More of which in a future posting.
The Saffrons
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